Wonderland Is Dead
by Unobtrusive
Summary: Alice unwillingly returns to save Wonderland from the Ace Of Spades. With the help of the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter, can she restore the balance of an imaginary world?
1. Down The Rabbit Hole Again

**Well, this is my first story for Alice In Wonderland, and it all began a few weeks ago during my schools production of Alice In Wonderland (with yours truly playing the infamous Hatter ;)), and I was up far too late as I'm want to do and couldn't get a story out of my head. So I wrote it down, put it out to people and apparently it is fantastic!  
This story is my property, but the back story of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass belong to Lewis Carroll.  
I'd like to thank Bri-Chan for her web-series When Curiosity Met Insanity for inspiring me with my ideas for The Hatter, also thanks to Adelaide, Kathleen, Hayden, Tania and the rest of the cast of Alice In Wonderland, as well as Lynden, Emily and Courtney for helping me concoct all of this =) I hope you enjoy!**

Alice drew back the shutters of her window and squinted in to the morning sunshine that warmed her face. She stretched up on her tip toes and smiled at the light, the cheery songs of the birds wafting through the glass and filling the room with music.  
On the bed her cat purred contentedly, its tail swishing and leaving streaks of hair along the white linen sheets.  
"Now, now, Mrs. Shire!" Scolded Alice as she picked up the feline and held her to her face. "You know that we aren't to dirty the beds. Run along and behave yourself."  
The cat mewed and twisted out of her grip, landing silently on the wooden floor and making for the closed door where it sat.  
"And I suppose now that you want me to let you out, too?"  
The cat stared at Alice, and then back at the door.  
Alice heaved a sigh and drew herself away from the window to open the door for the pampered pet. As she did, she heard her parents voices drift from the floor below her.  
_Curious, _she thought _Mother and Father aren't normally up this early. I wonder what could be the matter? _  
Quietly, she followed Mrs. Shire out of her room and stood on the landing to hear her parents begin to bellow at each other. Alice covered her mouth in shock when she heard her mothers voice raised to her father. Never in her eighteen years had she heard them quarrel so.  
Well, at least not since her… disappearance.  
She chastised herself for thinking of the incident. Its thoughts always drew back waves of memories and feelings, images of the world she visited. _No! Not memories! It never happened! _  
Straightening her golden hair and patting down her night gown, Alice stepped down the stairs with the cat at her feet to confront her parents.

The living room was immaculate and spotless, the white walls and ceiling gleaming orange in the sunrise. As Alice passed them, her eye was drawn to the chair that her father always smoked his pipe in. Her body stopped of its own accord and her eyes bore in to the chairs upholstery. The colours and patterns – normally static as a statue – began to dance and form at her gaze, shifting and re-arranging themselves. Thoughts and ideas, words and numbers all struggling for a position in her vision. So many vibrant images that she had lost…  
"Alice! What in heaven's name are you doing up at this hour!"  
She jumped as her father directed his voice at her from the kitchen. Both he and her mother were standing there, framed by the door and staring at her. Her father with a mask of rage and her mother with shock and sorrow.  
Alice froze like a rabbit caught in the light, her eyes wide and ashamed at being caught eaves-dropping before she had a mind to introduce herself. "I was… Mrs. Cheshire woke me and wanted to come downstairs, so when I opened the door I heard voices and was wondering the same of you."  
Her father continued to glare at her, weighing her words against her as the verdict was considered. "Very well then, child. Go back to your room and prepare for the day, your mother and I have matters do discuss."  
Alice bowed and smartly turned to leave, colours still dancing in the corners of her vision.  
She waited on the landing, stroking Mrs. Shire as her parents began to converse once more in hushed voices.  
"Arthur, she's a lady now. If she doesn't get married soon I fear she never will." Her mothers voice wavered with concern.  
"Nonsense Bernadette, she is a prize for any suitor no matter her age. Marionettes College for Ladies will be the perfect place for her." Her father scoffed; always the man of sensibility.  
Alice pondered their meaning. Surely they weren't planning on sending her away? But as their conversation drew on, their intentions became clearer.  
"Then it's settled." Sighed her father. "I'll fetch the girl and inform her."  
Alice bit her lip and dropped Mrs. Shire. She quickly ran up the stairs and to her room, shutting the door behind her and diving back in to her bed.

As her father opened the door, Alice closed her eyes pretended to sleep. Without a word, he stepped towards her and stood over her bed. "Alice… Alice darling, wake up."  
She didn't stir and focused on keeping her eyes firmly closed and her breathing even. To add to the act she kicked her leg slightly and gave a little "Humm…" as one would expect a sleeping mouse to produce.  
The floorboards groaned under his weight as her father left the room and shut the door.  
Immediately Alice sprung out of bed and rushed to her wardrobe. She wouldn't allow her parents to send her off to a school that would teach her to be little more than a puppet. _If they are so eager to be rid of me then I shall run away. _She pulled out her blue petticoat and white smock and laid them carefully on the bed. Mrs. Shire leapt fluidly on to the bed and stood just to the side of her clothes, eyeing them with curiosity. Alice ignored her and closed the shutter to change.  
When she caught her eye in the mirror, she turned and curtsied to herself. "Hello there Alice, how do you do?"  
"Very well thank you, and yourself?" Replied her reflection.  
Alice giggled. _Talking to yourself, the first sign of madness. Although, we're all mad here. _At that thought she stood stiff as a board. Those words were familiar, like a nightmare that gnawed at the edge of the mind but never made its self known. A shiver crept down Alice's spine.

The rose bushes stood guard beneath Alice's window, planted four summers ago by her father when to celebrate her safe return home when she was lost in the woods.  
Her white bed linen swung down from the window with Alice clinging to it for dear life. It wasn't until she was halfway down that she realized how much of a bad idea this actually was, yet she was too terrified to go back. With her legs swinging wildly and her elbows scraping along the bricks, Alice finally came to the conclusion that she would have to let go.  
"Three… two… two and a quarter… two and a half… two and three quarters…"  
The linen tore and she fell square in to the garden bed, missing the two largest bushes by inches. Alice sat where she had landed in a daze. She shrieked as something soft brushed past her leg. Her leg kicked out at it and Mrs. Shire hissed at her. "Oh! It was only the cat… Dear me."  
Alice stood and brushed herself off, annoyed that she was so early in her adventure but already her nice clothes had been dirtied.  
Around her the roses rustled in the breeze and the smaller flowers at their bases seemed to sing as the wind whispered through them. Out of the sea of red, Alice spied a single white rose out of the bunch, its petals drooping and dying. Clucking her tongue, Alice smiled at the poor flower. "Perhaps if you were as ruby as the rest then you wouldn't lose your head…" She mused.

As Alice ventured further from her house she couldn't hide the happiness inside her. The emerald fields of her parents estate stretched from the creek to the south, to the woods in the west. When she was fourteen, she wandered in to the woods and was lost for three days and four nights until she was found sitting underneath a tree and petting the cat which became Mrs. Shire. Alice could remember nothing of while she was gone, yet some nights when the air was still and warm, she was sure she could hear mad laughter ringing in her ears…  
With a wave of her hand she dismissed the thoughts, knowing that they would bring back memories that she no longer wanted.  
Though, the woods weren't too far from where she was now. What harm could come from taking a peek? After all, she wasn't a cat so curiosity wasn't _that _dangerous.

She skipped over to where the grass gave way to pine needles and stood at the entrance to the forest, trees bent over in reminisce of a gaping maw.  
Alice peered through the gap in the trees, expecting to see something, anything, but there was darkness and more trees. Nothing more.  
"There." She told herself. "You've satisfied your silly curiosity, and now we should go back to the trail and run away. Isn't that right, Mrs. Shire?"  
The cat ignore Alice and darted quickly in to the forest.  
"Oh you silly cat!" Alice called after it. Hesitantly, she crossed the border between the forest and the meadow and felt the pine needles crunch beneath her feet. Instead of the fear she was expecting, Alice felt a strange sense of peace flow through her. She caught the sight of Mrs. Shires tail weaving and bobbing between trees so Alice hitched up her dress and followed after it, stepping daintily over sticks and logs as she did so.  
The warmth and light of the sun couldn't penetrate the thick canopy of the forest so the gloom was new to Alice's eyes and it took her a few moments to adjust to them, so in her state of semi-blindness she failed the see the rabbit hole in front of her, nor notice that the forest floor she was about to step on had been so weakened by the rabbits digging that as soon as she placed her weight on it, it would give way and swallow her up.  
Which is exactly what it did.


	2. How curious

**Well this is part two =) Alice has fallen in to the rabbit hole because of silly Mrs. Shire.  
What will the Wonderland be like that she's fallen in to?  
For some of these chapters I'll suggest listening to a certain song while you read, either because it's a brilliant song or because it got me in the mood to write the chapter. For this one, I suggest "Disturbia – The Cab". It's a cover of Rhianna's version and I like it a lot better ^^ The feel of the song works well, I feel.  
Once again, ****this story is my property, but the back story of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass belong to Lewis Carroll.**

*****************************************************************************************

Alice hit the ground with a start. The hole wasn't deep, but on her back as she was it was more than enough to cover her up to her head. She stared down at her clothes and sighed in regret. Her adventure was no more than an hour old and already she'd dirtied her good clothes twice.  
A small dirt clump fell near her hand and she looked up to see Mrs. Shire staring down at her with concern. Alice shrugged her shoulders at her. "Well what do you expect? You're the one that run off without me!" The girl stood and attempted to daintily pull herself out of the warren, which failed miserable as she scrambled for purchase on the soggy ground. _Curious, the ground wasn't wet before… _In fact, everything seemed a little damper. The air was cooler, more of a biting chill to it than the pleasant summer wind that was blowing so freely on the meadow. Alice stared at the trees around her, a sense of fear tip-toeing up her spine like a giant spider. She picked up Mrs. Shire and held her close to her chest, nuzzling in to the comfort of the cats warm fur. "Come on Mrs. Shire, we're leaving."  
Alice stepped backwards carefully, cautious to avoid the gaping pit that she had created in the ground and hurried toward the edge of the forest and back to the meadow.  
Ahead of her she saw the trees that gaped like a monsters mouth, yet ahead of them was more forest. Alice's head shook in shock, her golden locks brushing back and forth across her shoulders. "No…" She whispered to the cat. "No, no not again… Where is it? Where's the meadow?!"  
Her head spun and the colours that flooded her vision earlier in the living room exploded on her irises, all of them eager to be seen and paid attention to. All of the images, thoughts and ideas that she had repressed inside herself burst forth from the wall that held them back in her mind as everything began to fade away. From somewhere to her right she thought she heard a silken voice calling to her.  
"Alice! Alice! Quick, Hatter, get her out of here before the Ace finds her!"  
A pair of stick thin but surprisingly strong arms lifted Alice off the ground and a mad voice whispered in her ear. "Don't worry, I've got you Mary-Anne."  
Her pale face split in to a small grin as sleep began to weave its spell on her. "How many… How many times must I tell you… My name isn't… It's Alice."  
The voice cackled and she fell asleep while they ran.....

Alice snuggled deeper and deeper in to the blankets, their warmth smothering her and protecting her from the cold outside. She could feel it creeping under cracks in the cover and she pulled her legs in tighter, groaning in protest. Something clinked as it was placed down beside her and a comforting hand pulled the hair from her eyes.  
"Alice. Alice wake up immediately." An authoritative voice commanded her.  
"Hush you! She's been through enough already!" Shushed the same mad voice from before.  
Alice cracked her eyes open a fraction, terrified of what she might see before her. The first thing to come in to focus was a chipped yellow cup full of steaming tea on a saucer next to her. Next was Mrs. Shire sitting behind the tea and stirring it, grinning happily at Alice. "Hello my dear." Whispered the cat in the softest, silkiest voice Alice had ever heard. The room she was in was small and cozy, lit by a few candles and an open fire. Furniture was Spartan, with only a table and a few chairs taking up the centre of the room and the bed that she lay on pushed in to the corner.  
There was a flash of movement in her peripheral as a large white face pressed its self up against her nose. "Alice! My word how you've grown! Oh, you don't look a day over sixteen! Mind you, I didn't get to see you when you were sixteen but you look just how I imagined you would if you were sixteen!"  
The beaming face took up the entire of her vision with its gleaming green eyes. Alice stared in to them, a glimmer of recognition flashing across her brain. All the memories were on the tip of her tongue…  
The face moved back and twirled around for Alice. The hat on his head was tattered and worn, the green velvet picking off to reveal the leather underneath. His coat and pants were scuffed and worn. He would appear almost like a vagrant if it weren't for his clean-shaven appearance. "Well, Alice, do you recognize me?"  
The girl shook her head slowly, unsure of whether she should speak.  
"What about me?" Came the authoritative voice to her left.  
Alice rolled over to see who the voice belonged to and gasped. The most beautiful woman that she had ever laid eyes on stared kindly at her with sad, pale blue eyes. Raven hair draped down below her shoulders and her crushed, black velvet dress swept down to the floor; it surface covered in shimmering red hearts. Yet for all its glamour there were tears in odd places, some of them masterfully patched and hidden within the ruffles yet still visible if one were to look close enough.  
Inside her chest Alice felt her heart break for the poor woman. "The Queen…" She whispered. The sight of her, so far removed from the haughty woman she once was, let loose a torrent of tears and a flood of memories. "And the Hatter! Dear old Mad Hatter!"  
The elder man grinned and hugged the Queen. "I think she's got it."  
Mrs. Shire sat pristinely on the bedside table, grinning her trademark Cheshire grin. "I don't suppose you remember me at all darling?"  
Alice moaned and pulled the cat close to her, snuggling her face in to her fur. "Oh of course I do Cheshire Puss! Of course I remember you! But… Why am I here?"  
The Mad Hatters grin faltered slightly and he removed his arm from around the Queens shoulders. "I think… I think it best if I explain. Your Highness, Mrs. Shire? If you wouldn't mind, could you fetch Alice and I some sandwiches from the kitchen?"  
The two nodded politely and exited the room.  
Alice looked at the Hatter quizzically. "What is it? What's going on? Why is the Queen here and not beheading people?"  
The Hatter removed his hat and ran his fingers through his graying hair. "Alice… After you left Wonderland, things changed. You stopped imagining things. You stopped giving life to this world, to us. Because of that, the force that drives Wonderland shut down. We needed to find a new energy to power this world, and the Ace of Spades said that he had the answer.  
He told us that an alternate source of energy was available all over the world in ready supply, and it would never run out. Well believe you me," He scoffed. "Considering the state that Wonderland was in I think that we would have just about jumped in to the mouth of a Gryphon to fix the problem, so we did as The Ace commanded and re-routed the world to convert the alternate energy."  
Alice licked her dry lips and twisted her fingers in her lap. "What… What's the alternate energy? What did you use?"  
The Hatter sighed mournfully, his green eyes brimming with remorse. "We used sadness. All the anger, all the fear, all the hopelessness that people feel every day all across the world. We harvest it, even plant it in some people to keep us going.  
Because at the moment, dear Alice, with The Ace at the helm and Wonderland surviving on all the negative emotions in the world… Wonderland is dying."


	3. The Chimney Sweep

**Chapter three already?? Well, this has all been written ahead of time (so much so that I'm up to Chapter 11) and I'll be putting up a new chapter every day until I've caught up to my self ;)  
I'd like to make a quick thank you to Relax for my first review! I'm glad you enjoy the story =) Sorry that there's frequently only two large paragraphs, but that's just how it comes out =( I've tried to work on this, and Chapter 7 and onwards will all have multiple smaller paragraphs. If you're willing to put up with the longer paragraphs and variations thereof until then, I'd be much obliged. If not, let me know and I'll try and edit some chapters before they get put up here.  
Is anyone else willing to review/comment/criticize? I'm a fan of all three, as they all help improve the story in some way ;) Flames will be used to light the Hatter on fire, so you'd better not post them!  
****This story is my property, but the back story of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass belong to Lewis Carroll.**

A lanky boy with dirty overalls and a filthy face cleared his throat behind the Mad Hatter, causing the man to spin around and nearly fling the tea cup off the table and made Mrs. Shire leap for the safety of Alice's arms.  
"Mr. Hatter? I noticed the light was on an' –"  
"Who are you?!" Interrupted the mentally disadvantaged merchant. "How did you get in here?!"  
The boy looked around at the room awkwardly and backed away from the scantily clad Queen who had just entered the room. "Well, I'm the locksmith an'… well… I'm a locksmith. M'name's Bill, if it so pleases you Guvn'or."  
The Hatter glared at the boy intensely from beneath the brim of his hat. "How… Convenient for you." Bill shifted nervously on his feet as the Hatter continued to bore his eyes through the small boys frame. "I suppose that you even came through the door, hmm?!"  
Bills eyes blinked in confusion. "Uhh… Pardon?"  
"Ah ha!" Yelled the Hatter, rounding on Bill and jumping on his back. "Quickly Alice, kick him in the no-no spot! He's clearly a spy of the Ace!"  
Bill struggled in vain beneath the Hatter, squealing like a small child and running in circles.  
With a mighty sigh, the Queen stuck out her foot and tripped the flailing pair, sending them crashing to the ground in a heap. Using the tip of her shoe, the Queen rolled the Hatter off of Bill. "Hatter, he's the locksmith? The one that White Rabbit _used _to employ as his chimney sweep? The one that destroyed his house?"  
The Hatter gave the Queen a large, round, blank stare.  
"Oh come now, Reginald! The one who used to be a lizard?!"  
Bill pulled himself up off the floor and tipped his hat at the Queen. "Not to worry m'lady. I'm sure Master Hatter knows who I am deep down. As for this young lass, though…" He stepped over a confused Mad Hatter - who had begun looking through photos in his wallet to find one that resembled Bill – and bowed clumsily before Alice. "'Ello there, Mary-Anne. 'Tis a right pleasure to see you again. Though, you're a lot smaller than what I remember."  
Alice studied the boys features with curiosity. "Smaller…? But, I'm older now than what I was before."  
"GOT IT!" Blared out the Hatter, waving a picture high above his head and waving it around in euphoria. "You used to work for the White Rabbit before you destroyed his house! And weren't you also a lizard at one point?"  
Recognition spun through Alice's mind as she recalled the candy that she ate in the White Rabbits house so many years ago, and the enormous size she grew to when she did. "Of course, the chimney sweep!"  
Bill grinned sheepishly. "That's the one, m'lady."

While the hubbub of filling Alice in on all that she missed, and the reason as to why the boy was a lizard but is one no longer, the Queen stood at the kitchen window and stared in to the encroaching darkness outside. Night time seemed to fall with increasing speed in Wonderland these days, no doubt a side effect of the Ace's vile deeds.  
For years, she had been the Queen Of Hearts, ruling over Wonderland with a stern yet kind fist. Granted, when she was upset she was a little too axe-happy, yet she never doomed an entire world just because it was an easy option. Her already pale knuckles turned bone white as she gripped the kitchen counter in anger, while tears of despair rolled down her cheeks. The land that she had poured so much of herself in to continued to grow darker, and there was nothing to be done about it. The only person who had ever dared to defy the Ace had been swiftly and publically made an example of. After that, not even the Tweedles dared to put a toe out of line.  
Something white darted outside the window while the Queen continued to stare at the Hatters disgusting drapery, drowned in her dilemmas of desolation. Shortly after the thirst, a second white shape flitted outside and caused her to shift her gaze to the window. The third white object had the Queen hitching up her dress and running to the living room, bellowing at the top of her lungs "Everyone out, immediately! They've found us, they've found -!" Before an explosion rocked the cottage and sent her sprawling face down on the floor. The world around her became a fuzzy mess as powdered brick and mortar rained down in to her already tearing eyes. All the sounds around her were muffled as if she was under water, and the two loud pops from the Hatters pistols were nowhere near as loud as they should have been, nor where the ripping sounds as the bullets tore through the weak bodies of the Ace's cards. Her limbs shook as she climbed unsteadily to her feet and drew the small knife she kept hidden in her cleavage.

Alice stumbled over to the woman and tried to steady her, shocked at how heavy her slight frame was. She had been covered in bed sheets when the explosion came because the Hatter had been trying to tickle her – an activity which she did not in the least bit appreciate – so had suffered little from the initial blow. The Hatter had already begun reloading his flint-lock pistols when more Cards began to storm the hole made by the bomb. The Queen rose to her feet carefully and drew a curved blade from down her top, spinning it expertly between her fingers. "Get ready to run, Alice my dear. We may be in for quite the scuffle."


	4. A Full Deck

**After re-reading through the last Chapter, I realised that I've subconsciously called the Hatter 'Reginald.' I think I may have been reading a liiittle too much 'WCMI' and had his name in my head when I wanted to call him Nigel =P That has been changed this chapter, so please be aware when you're reading this that the Hatters name is 'Nigel' and not 'Reginald'.  
I managed to alter this chapter a bit to have more than two paragraphs, so I hope this helps you enjoy reading it that little bit more ;)  
As always, ****his story is my property, but the back story of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass belong to Lewis Carroll.**

Several Cards now stood in the gaping hole where the kitchen once was, the makings on their faces and bodies denoting them as part of the Spades contingent. Alice felt the Queen stiffen at her side so she gripped the woman's arm tighter. The Hatter stepped calmly up beside them and carefully adjusted his hat with the tip of one of his pistols. "Have you any knowledge to use these, Alice?" He spoke in a quiet voice, never once taking his eyes off the Cards that were advancing on them with terrifying synchronicity.  
The girl eyed the weapon with wonder, having never seen one before. "Of course not, I'm a lady."  
The Queen chuckled. "As am I, my dear. But that's never stopped me before."  
"If that is the case," Breathed the Hatter. "Then I think it best if you were to stay behind us." He spun one of the pistols around in his hand and handed it butt first to Alice. "Point it at the bad guy and pull the trigger. That's all there is to it."  
Alice took the gun from him with a trembling hand, the artefact feeling alien in her young hands. Nothing in Wonderland is what it seemed anymore. Not that it ever was, mind you, but Alice had the feeling that this was a little _too _out of the ordinary.  
The Hatter raised his remaining pistol and fired, hitting nothing but air as the Cards turned side on and nearly disappeared. His fiendish grin faltered for a second. "Muffins."  
With a loud battle cry the Cards turned back to face them and rushed at the Hatter, his gun now useless in his hand. The Queen rushed to his rescue as the soldiers drew their swords, smashing in to them and sending them flying in all directions.  
Hatter reached in to his coat and pulled two new guns from within. Strange, odd guns with cogs and gears and elongated muzzles. They shone in the candle light like demons eyes before he opened fire on the downed cards. As the pistols unloaded their deadly ammunition, Alice's eyes looked on in awe as they fired multiple times without reloading.  
The Queen ducked under the Hatters arms and began to fling her knives with unerring accuracy, ripping and tearing through the cards delicate bodies. As each one fell to the floor in shreds, two more seemed to spring through the hole in the wall to take their fallen comrades place.  
Hatter wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve while still firing with his free hand. "Now this just isn't fair. Here I am, playing without a full deck and the Ace seems to have a full house…"  
Both the Queen and Alice rolled their eyes as the Hatter laughed maniacally and fought back against the Cards onslaught with renewed vigour.

Alice curled up in to a ball behind the Queen, praying that the cards wouldn't see her, and if they did then they wouldn't live long enough to do anything about it. Bill, it seemed, had rolled underneath the bed and hidden safely out of sight.  
The battle raged on around her as her fear grew more and more intense with each passing second. Though now, with each card that the Queen and the Hatter felled, they were forced to take one step in retreat; one step closer to the bed and Alice.  
The Hatter looked cautiously behind him at how close they now were to Alice and was forced to duck as a sword came crashing down at him. One of the Cards had managed to slink through his barrage of fire power and made it within striking distance.  
"Nigel! Get Alice out of here, now! We can't hold them off for much longer!" The Queen shouted amidst the clash of her knives against the soldiers swords. She threw them off her moved towards the door.  
The Hatter nodded and fired a few parting shots in to the crowed of Cards before grabbing Alice by the wrist and swinging her on to his back. The Queen dipped her hand below the bed and pulled out a quivering Bill. "Come now, we're leaving!"  
Another large explosion rocked the house as the Mad Hatter fired an explosive shell at the front door, the surrounding wall of which was now in flames, creating an exit for himself and his party. He sped through the door with Alice on his back, his jacket flapping behind him. Bill scrabbled to his feet and made a dash for the door when an injured card lopped at his leg with his sword, opening a gaping wound in the boys calf. Bill screamed in pain and crashed to the ground, gasping in shock and gripping his leg. The Queen swiftly decapitated the offending Card and paused to relish the feel of her blade as it sliced through its neck. She turned to Bill and hauled him to his feet, half carrying and half dragging him out of the door.  
The fire on the wall spread quickly through the cottage, consuming the easily flammable bodies of the Cards, devouring the dead and making short work of the anguished living.....

Hatter sped through the forest, darting left and right with practiced ease in order to avoid the blurring figures of the trees in the darkness. Alice wrapped her hands tight around his neck and squeezed her eyes shut.  
The air that had been rushing past her face slowed and calmed as the Hatter came to a stop, panting heavily from exertion. He raised his fingers to his neck and pried Alice's hands away from him, slowly allowing her to slip to the ground so that he may catch his breath. Crashing through the undergrowth behind them came the Queen and Bill, both bloodied and with scratches all over them.  
Nigel looked down at himself and saw his own clothes were torn and spattered with blood – though whose blood it was he did not know. He dipped a finger in it and studied the liquid with curiosity. A whirlwind of thoughts blew through his head. The first idea he had was to taste it, as it looked quite like the jam that his old friend used to make. The second thought was to wipe it on Alice. She wouldn't mind, she didn't have feelings. The third thought was the stab of forced guilt he received every time he thought of someone that way. In his mind, all others around him were merely toys to play with. Alice, however, was a toy that seemed to play back.  
He smirked at the thought and wiped away the blood on to his jacket.  
The clearing that they had come in to was small, perhaps only ten meters by ten meters, and surrounded on all sides by towering trees. "I think," He began. "That I would like to lay down now." In seconds he was on the ground, his hat underneath him like a pillow and his thumb placed firmly in his mouth like a child.

Alice stared down with fondness for the dear old man. The smile on his face was utter contentment, despite the horrific battle he had just been in.  
Beside her, the Queen was tying a bandage on to Bills bloodied leg in an attempt to slow the bleeding. Satisfied with her handiwork, she stood up gracefully and nodded to Bill, who gave her a feeble thumb up of thanks. "Alice, perhaps you should get some sleep too. You've had quite the day."  
Until she mentioned it, Alice didn't at all feel tired. But as she stared down at the Hatters sleeping form, the weight of the day's activities pressed down upon her eyelids. She yawned sleepily and knelt to the ground to curl up beside Nigel.


	5. Morning Dew

**Once again, apologies for the large chunk of paragraph that the story possesses =( I tried to break it up as best I could, but it was slightly difficult...  
Thank you all for continuing to read the story despite small issues. The Queen shan't be too sane, don't worry ;)  
Remember, reviews are a great way to help my improve my writing *hinthint*  
****This story is my property, but the back story of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass belong to Lewis Carroll.**

*****************************************************************************************

Morning came with a swiftness that only Wonderland possessed. It was as if the sun believed that it was late and rushed in to the sky, completely skipping the sunrise and moving straight on to being high in the sky. Fortunately for Alice, she saw none of this due to the thick blanket of clouds that obscured the golden orb.  
The clearing that they had fallen asleep in was wet with morning dew, some of which had clung to Alice's clothing during the night. She stretched contentedly and tried to roll over until she realised she had been sleeping on the Hatter all night. The grass twinkled as she sat up sharply, a maidens blush blemishing her cheeks at the thought of having slept so close to the man the whole night. She quickly chastised herself for such thoughts, however. She knew the Hatter was a respectable man, and herself a perfectly respectable lady.  
The flush of her cheeks quickly cooled in the morning air and she glanced around the clearing to try and get her bearings. The Queen and Bill had fallen asleep leaning against a tree, Bills leg still weeping through the bandage. His skin was sallow and pale from blood loss. Alice chewed on her lip with worry. From the look of him, the boy wouldn't survive through the next night. The same problem occurred with her younger brother when he was five. He had been playing in the barn when Fathers thresher had fallen and slicked through his shoulder. Within hours he looked exactly as Bill did now; skin the texture of candle wax and the colour of the walls.  
In direct contrast, the Queen looked as healthy as a horse. She sat peacefully against the tree bark and hardly moved aside from her chest rising slowly up and down. The plethora or scratches that covered her body from the previous night's events had all but scabbed over, with only the deepest ones still glistening slightly.

Slowly, Alice rose to her feet and began to search the clearing in earnest. While her brother had been sick, an old friend of her mothers had appeared at the door and offered a remedy to heal him. Father had turned her away, but Alice had been curious. _"Take these to your brother," _the old woman had pleaded in a raspy voice. _"Crush them, and feed them to him. Make him swallow them all." _Then pressed a handful of leaves into Alice's hands before turning on her axis and leaving without a word. Alice did what the woman said, but only got perhaps a third of the concoction in to her brothers mouth when Father had stormed in and thrown her out. But for the next few hours, a green pus had seeped out of her brothers wound and seemed to be closing it, before it flaked and dried, eventually blowing away.

Alice had no doubt in her mind that if she were to find the same plant, she would be able to cure Bill.  
There were numerous flowers and plants in the small patch of grass. Alice began to despair as none of them looked even the slightest bit familiar to her.  
Behind her, the Hatter shifted in his sleep. Alice paused and hoped that she hadn't awoken him. She glanced over to where he was laying and in the forest beyond him was certain that she saw a flash of dirty blonde hair dart away through the woods.  
A loud crack resounded throughout the clearing, sending Alice screaming to the ground and the Mad Hatter cackling to his feet, guns drawn and firing wildly in all directions. "Come on you pansies! I'll bite your legs off! All one hundred of them!"  
Bill and the Queen threw themselves to the ground with yelps of terror.  
"Nigel!" Bellowed the Queen. "For heaven's sake, stop!"  
The Hatter let loose a few more choice shots. Then a few more. Then an extra one for good measure. Then stopped, looking quite bemused. "… What the devil are you all doing on the floor?"  
From her position on the ground, Alice looked up at the Hatter in horror, then back towards the forest where she saw the darting figure. There was nothing there now, save for the twisting trees and rustling leaves. Though she was certain she saw something…  
"Nigel." Hissed the Queen in a icy tone. "Get over here. Now."  
His coat ruffled as the Hatter bashfully put away his guns and stepped slowly toward the Queen.  
"Wait!" Interrupted Alice, a thought having just struck her quite severely on the side of the head. "Where's Mrs. Shire?"  
Both the Hatter and the Queen paused to consider this new information. Neither of them could recall having seen the cat since before the scuffle with the Cards the previous night. Hatter immediately fell to the ground again with his legs crossed and his long, delicate fingers crossed under his chin in contemplation. "Hmm… What day of the month is it?" He questioned.  
Alice felt the queerest sense of déjà vu, but not the common sense to refrain from answering him. "I believe it is… The fourth?"  
Hatter leapt off the ground and rushed at the Queen. She shrieked as he clasped one hand over his eyes and used the other to draw a knife out of her shirt. Bounding away like the madman he was, he stopped halfway up a tree and began to carve in to it, mumbling to himself.  
Alice was on the verge of condemning him when she notice that the Queen had in fact frozen in the same pose she was in when the Hatters hand had disappeared down her cleavage.  
"SHE'S GONE TO SEE THE BUTTERFLY!!!!" Screeched the Hatter in a tone so loud it shattered what ever state the Queen was in and caused Alice to block her ears for fear of being deafened.  
The Hatter dropped deftly to the ground and spun around in a circle a few times before deciding on a direction. "We go this way!"  
Alice grabbed at his coat and held him back. "We can't! What about Bill?"  
Hatter spun around once again to stare at the boy. "It's just a flesh wound. Besides, he's a spy remember?"  
The young girls mouth gaped in shock at the Hatters spiteful words.  
"What?" He asked with his voice loaded with innocence. "I'm mad, remember?"  
The Queen pushed past them both haughtily. "Bill will be well cared for, you two go and find the Cheshire cat, I will wait for him."  
Hatter nodded and swept away with a flourish.

As the two traversed the forest, Hatter leading the way and Alice attempting to follow behind him, a single question began to nag at her thoughts.  
"Hatter," She suddenly spoke. "Where is the March Hare?"  
The Hatter stopped. Not an abrupt stop, but the sort of stopping where one merely stops because one can. He was silent for a full thirty seconds – the longest Alice had ever seen him go without making any sort of noise - before he continued walking.  
Alice frowned and rushed after him. "The March Hare, Hatter. Where is he? Is he okay?" She grabbed him by his shoulders and spun him to face her.  
The Hatter refused to look up at her, keeping his azure eyes fixed on the ground. Alice noticed the tears beginning to brim inside them and pulled back in shock.  
"Oh no…" She murmured. "He's not… Is he?"  
The Hatter sniffed indignantly and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "To me he is, yes. Come, we still have a while to go to reach the Butterflies." He turned from Alice with remorse and continued purposefully on his way.

The rest of the trip was spent in silence, save for a few random outbursts of gunfire from the Hatter every time he heard a twig even _think _about snapping.  
Alice had to hurry to keep up with the unusually stoic hat maker as his long and powerful stride carried him over logs and bushes. There was something different to his determination, though. Quite unlike how he was all the times that he spied a shiny object on the ground or wanted a new seat because he also wanted a clean cup. It was almost like he was running from something, trying to forget details that his crazed mind wouldn't let go of. Alice decided that it was best not to pursue the subject and instead focused all of her energy in to keeping up with his erratic and eclectic path through the forest.  
One thing Alice noticed without the Hatters incessant jabbering was how quiet the woods around them were. There were no bird calls, no wind as it rustled past the trees. It was calming and terrifying at the same time, what with the Hatters random gunfire penetrating the silence. Alice felt the weight of it presence down upon her ears, almost painful in its force.

A pellet exploded from the muzzle of Nigel's gun as he fired at a tree that looked like it was a little bit shifty, before he shoved the gun rudely back inside it's holster inside his jacket. The conversation with Alice had stirred him up something chronic. Emotions that he and his easily distracted mind had easily disposed of had now come kicking and screaming to the surface and were not going to be thrown back down without a fight.  
He blasted off another high-powered incendiary round at a nearby rabbit in frustration and giggled slightly as Alice squealed with terror and rushed in vain to try and save the hopeless creature.  
After the Ace took over Wonderland, everyone was divided in to either one of three factions: Those loyal to the Ace, those loyal to the Queen, and those loyal unto themselves. Nigel considered himself one of the privileged few whose only master was himself.  
The March Hare, however… He had done the lowliest, cowardly thing that the Hatter could ever think of.  
When the Ace's cards had come for Nigel and Marchy, Nigel had stood his ground and defended the tea table which he had so gallantly sat at for so many years, while the Hare merely -  
_"What was that??" _Wondered Nigel as a black shadow swooped over head. As it passed, there was a surprised "Oof!" from behind him and a slight crash as the Cheshire Cat landed on Alice, sending her tumbling once again to the ground.  
"Really, Alice." Remarked the Hatter, his previous melancholy mood all but dissipated. "You must stop being on the ground in such a manner. It is most certainly un-lady like."  
Alice glared up at him with malice in her eyes. "If you were more prone to remaining in the same state of mind for more than –"  
Mrs. Shire leapt off Alice and began cleaning her paws. "Alice darling, please. Don't make me go through it again. We're all mad here, you're mad, I'm mad, he's mad, the people reading this are mad."  
The Hatter and Alice looked at Mrs. Shire with raised eyebrows.  
"Never mind children. Come along, we'd better be heading back. The Queen will no doubt have wondering where we've been."  
As the trio meandered home, the Hatter pulled his hat over his eyes and drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the fateful day that went down among the annals of his history as The Day The Tea Went Cold.


	6. The Day The Tea Went Cold

Nigels mind was a twisted and dangerous place, with a tumultuous sea of hundreds upon thousands of thoughts, all roaring and snapping at each other with unseen fury. The images and thoughts ran together in more of a flood than a gentle stream, with only the Hatters equally as random mind able to sort through and decipher each and every one of them.  
One memory though stood as a light house in the ocean of images, its clarity blinding all who were near it with normality not experienced in Wonderland since Alice. Nigel felt its light drawing him in, but instead of filling him with the hope and wonder that light had the good sense to do every now and then, it instead poured sadness and fear in to his heart at an unprecedented rate.

He and the March Hare were sitting at their infamous table and singing the "Merry Un-Birthday" song to each other – as it always appeared to be their Un-Birthdays on the same day every year. News of the Ace's betrayal to each and every inhabitant of Wonderland had reached them years ago, which was actually only a few days ago, but it felt like years due to Times annoying habit of dragging things out.  
The tea was pouring freely and the conversation was lively with the exception of Dormy, who was curled up asleep in a pink and blue teacup.  
"Nigel, good fellow!" Began Marchy. "I dare say you've been quite morose this fine morn-eve-night (They had developed their own system of Time since there was none for them). Come now, do tell me what's the matter. I'm all ears, I swear!" He finished with a hysterical laugh and a sip of tea.  
Nigel swirled his finger around in his teacup and began to pile in sugar cube after sugar cube. "It's… It's nothing Marchy. Worry not about it friend. After all, a large procession of Cards is bearing down behind you and I think it best we run and I tell you about it later no never mind we're not running let's stand and oh look they're gone in that case I'm merely concerned about Alice because she's been away for so long and I really quite miss her and enjoy her company." Nigels face had gone blue with the effort of spurting out the one, astoundingly long, unbroken sentence and he drew a great big breath in order to proclaim. "Scratch that, the Cards are here."  
The Time Warp that the Hatter and Marchy were stuck in gave the pair frequent troubles, the least of which included seeing something happening before it had actually happened, shown by the Hatter's confusion at the Cards being there one second, gone the next, and then back when they should be there.  
Confused?  
Good.  
The Six and Nine of Spades stepped haughtily towards the table, their paper-frames shimmering slightly as they passed through the Time Warp. Six giggled as his body rippled. "Ooh! Can we do that again?"  
Nine glared at him, silencing the immature twerp with his gaze. With the same cold, malicious stare, he moved his head as if in slow motion to level it upon the Mad Hatter. "Nigel Tickwall the Extremely Flammable?"  
Nigel nodded his head eagerly, always please when _anyone _remembered to refer to him by his true name _and _his Honorary.  
"And… Marchy the Mad March Hare?"  
Marchy scratched his head absent mindedly. "Haven't seen him all week, actually. Ever since I broke my mirror the fellow's been as hard to get a hold of as my own…" A brain storm began to trickle on top of Marchy's head and he spun his head around and pulled up the back of his pants to check the name on his underwear. "Sorry, never mind."  
Nine raised one immaculately sculpted eyebrow. "Are you he?"  
"No." Replied Marchy, in an oddly deep and sensual voice.  
The cards body flushed red with anger. "Then who in blazes are you??!!"  
Nigel leaned over and whispered in to one of Marchys comically sized ears. "Better be straight with him my friend, he had two exclamation points at the end of that sentence. Two!"  
Marchy stood and cleared his throat. "According to my underwear, I am Bond."  
A great silence descended over the table. "Bond?" Questioned Six.  
"Yes, merely Bond. OH NO WAIT! I put my underwear on the wrong way yester-morrow! One moment."  
Nine roared in outrage and drew his sword. "No more distractions! I know who you are, and under orders of His Royal Majesty the Great Ace of Spades, I hereby order you both to accompany us to the castle for execution!!"  
_There it is again… _Thought Nigel. _Two exclamation points. Clear sign of madness. _"Can't we finish tea first?"  
With a scream of fury akin to a small kitten mewling for dinner, Nine raised his sword and sent it crashing down upon the tea table, shaking Dormy out of his cup and splintering the table quite fiercely.  
Both Marchy and Nigel gasped in horror. In deathly silence, both slowly rose from their seats and glowered at Six and Nine with the burning passion of a thousand fiery suns.  
"Good sir." Hissed Nigel. "You have entered my Time Warp without so much as a bow, a jump to the left or a step to the right. Insulted both myself, my guest and my mother."  
Nine raised his hand meekly. "I never mentioned your –"  
"I'M INSIDE YOUR HEAD!" Screeched Nigel, before dropping his voice so low that the Cards had to lean in to hear him. "And now you have ruined both my tea and my table." He raised his head to reveal a face quite unlike any that had ever been seen on him before. His grin was in its usual place, but in his eyes shone a terrifying clarity of thought that showed there was merely one thing on his mind. "My name is Nigel Tickwall The Extremely Flammable. You have hurt my table. Prepare to die."  
The Cards gasped as he drew himself up to his full height, and then added to this by jumping on Marchy who was crouched on the table. As Nigel drew his pistols from his coat, Marchy tightened the muscles in his legs and the Cards drew their swords and readied their shields.  
"Fire!" Bellowed Marchy, who began to leap and bound all over the place with such speed as that he was a blur to the Cards who were rapidly being felled by bullets being fired by the cackling mad-man on the Hares shoulders.  
The massacre was over as quickly as it had begun, and Marchy came to an abrupt stop which sent a still hysterical Nigel over his shoulders and on to the blood-stained table cloth. _I never knew cards could bleed… Must investigate that. _  
A slight click came from behind Nigels hat and he spun around to investigate only to see the March Hare levelling his own pistol dead in the centre of Nigels head. "Sorry old chap, but the Ace offered me quite the sizeable sum to dispose of those imbeciles and yourself."  
Nigel cocked his head in confusion. "But… How? Why? You've been with me the entire time… I even shared my bacon-muffins with you." Tears began to creep in to Nigels eyes, grief and stupidity he felt quickly consuming the rage that had previously been held so close to his chest.  
"That's the beauty of a Time Warp, chum. You can be where ever you want, whenever you want." He pulled the trigger with glee and watched as the Hatter's eyes went wide and the colour slowly drain from his face. Then he began to wonder why this was happening when he hadn't even heard the gun fire.  
"Oh muffins, was I too soon?" Spat out Nigel, his face returning to its usual rosy red. "Sorry old friend, that's the annoyance about being in a Time Warp. Not everything happens at the same time."  
As he said this, sometime in the past, the March Hare of then ran in to the bullet of now and fell screaming to the ground.  
The future shifted, and the Hatter found himself surrounded by a great deal more Cards that were still moving than what he had previously. Marchy lay on the ground several feet away, screaming in pain and attempting to flit away on his usually working legs.  
Nigel squeezed his eyes shut and focused on moving the Time around him so that he and his entire table appeared at the exiled Queen of Hearts doorstep.

Nigel awoke with a start and threw the hat off his head. Alice, Bill and the Queen stared at him in shock. Never had the Hatter willingly removed his hat, not even when he went to shower.  
With delicate steps, the Queen strode towards the Hatter with her hands outstretched. "What was it, dear? What happened? A nightmare?"  
Nigel gulped in air like he needed it to live and continued to stare in horror at the hat. He shook his head slowly before embracing the Queen in a tender hug.  
"Come now, child." She cooed to him. "You can tell me, we're all on the same side now." She stroked his dark hair and hugged him tight. A murdering and vile Queen she had been, yet the maternal side in her had never been drenched in the blood her other half had. "It's okay, darling."  
Nigel sniffed once again and drew away from the Queen. "Nothing's the matter, honestly. I swear upon my chicken nuggets."  
The Queen nodded, not wishing to press the matter further. "Very well then. May I at least know what you saw?"  
Grass shifted softly as Nigel bent down and retrieved his hat from the ground, flicking the dirt off it and inspecting it. "Darkness there, and nothing more."


	7. One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night

As the Hatter recovered from his 'episode', the Queen looked once again over the rag-tag group that had assembled. All – save for Alice – her subjects and all – including Alice, this time – willing to put their lives on the line to put her back on her rightful place as The Queen Of Hearts, Ruler of Wonderland. Even if they weren't actually aware that they would be willing to put their lives on the line. The Queen grinned smugly to herself. _That's what Nigel's for,_ She supposed. _Making sure everybody stays on target…  
_Alice walked swiftly up to the Queen and treaded softly over Bill, careful not to bump her foot in to his injured leg. "Your highness –"  
"Please dear," the Queen cooed. "There's no need for such formality, I'm not the Queen at the moment."  
"Of course, your highness, it's just that I think it best if we kept going. Mrs. Shire was telling me that the Butterfly has already sent word to the Tweedles of what we're attempting to do."  
The Queen nodded. "Very well then, we will away as soon as we are prepared."  
Alice nodded compliantly and performed a short curtsy. "But, what are we attempting to do?"  
With a haughty laugh the Queen pulled Alice in to a tight hug which lasted several moments. When she released her, the Queens eyes were brimming with tears. "Never you mind darling, there's very little I believe we'd need you for aside from being here. Your presence alone was enough to spark this, after all."  
Alice smiled shyly back at the Queen. "Thank you, your highness."  
The Queen hugged her once again and then turned to Mrs. Shire. "Well, Cheshire, where are we to meet the Tweedles?"  
With quiet indifference, Mrs. Shire continued to lick at her paws without so much as a glance at the Queen. "Alice knows the way. She knows which way we are to go." She said between licks.  
The ensemble turned to stare at the girl in blue, her hair slightly out of place and her frock dirty and somewhat torn.  
The Hatter replaced his hat on the top of his head (after first trying to wear it as a shoe). His homicidal grin once again plastered his face and he skimmed his fingers along the rim of his hat. "Muffins then, I suppose we shall all be lost within the hour. Any takers? Odds are currently three to one."

Alice sat down angrily at the base of a tree while the Hatter and Bill exchanged coins, one with quite the more glee than the other. "Well that settles it then!" Squealed Nigel with glee. "Time is most certainly on my side still!"  
Bill rolled his eyes and leant a little more on to his good leg. "Aye, and you don't e'en have tha' enchanted table o'yours to maneuver it…"  
The girl glared up at the two men with resentment. "Well, if you two hadn't been so busy cavorting around the trail after butterflies -"  
"I can explain that!" Interjected the Hatter. "You see, it all began when I threw a lump of butter at Marchy one day and… And indeed." He finished, then pulled his hat over his head once more.  
Alice looked achingly at the man. "It's alright Hatter, I know you miss him." She removed herself from the ground and pulled him in to a hug. "At least he's in a better place now."  
The Queen half snorted and half laughed. "Ha! My dear, do you know what become of the March Hare?" She strode towards her with her arms crossed. "He was bought out by the Ace to kill Nigel. Since that contract never ended, neither has his service to the Ace."  
Alices eyes narrowed slightly.  
"Since then, he has been an assassin for the Imperial Forces and is loyal only unto the Ace."  
The Hatter growled slightly from under the brim of his hat and Alice placed a hand on his shoulder to silence him.  
"If that is the case, then we will ensure that if he ever does find us, then he will know how much we still care for him."  
The Hatter tore the hat from over his face and slammed it firmly down upon his head once again and began to continue onwards without so much as a glance back. "Come on, Alice. We must continue onwards. By a route obscure and lonely, haunted by ill angels only where an Eidolon, named night, on a black throne reigns upright."  
Alice started to speak to him, but he disappeared around a tree with only his inane ramblings reaching her.

Before the fall of night, when they had been wandering in the forest for many an hour, Alice stroked her fingers carefully along the bark of a tree. It had been scarred and scored by many a powerful blow from what was most likely to be swords, probably from some long forgotten quarrel over nothing.  
The Queen lifted her head skywards and flinched as the first drops of rain splattered along her brow. She sighed with resignation and clapped her hands thrice to gain the attention of the group. "We'd best find a place to spend the night, it's starting to rain –" A medium sized cat fell out of the sky and bolted for cover, followed by two small dogs and a Doberman. " – Quite heavily."  
Alice squealed as a Chihuahua landed in her arms and she swiftly dropped the dog which disappeared somewhere around her feet.  
The Hatter stopped and spun around in a circle a few times to try and remember where everyone had gone, as he kept forgetting each time he went around. "Not to worry! I have just the remedy to remove the cause, though I can do nothing about the symptom!" He removed his hat and fiddled around in side of it.  
Alice was sure she could hear the faint sounds of rattling and tinkling from inside it before he withdrew his hand and ducked under the hat. "I suggest you all press yourselves to the pound – I mean ground." He corrected himself as a Pomeranian landed squarely on his back.  
Alice, the Queen and Bill did as they were instructed and with a strange whirring noise, the brim of the hat shot outwards and covered a full five meter radius. The Hatter positioned himself beneath it and dropped it on to his head. "Come on in now, children! You can't spend all night out there."  
The trio scurried for a place under the ridiculously large hat and sat back to back in the centre, grateful to be out of the storm.

Hours passed, and while it continued to rain cats and dogs, the darkness grew lighter as if the sun were beginning to rise. Soon after, the rain stopped.  
Alice nudged the snoring Hatter in the ribs and asked him what the matter was with the weather.  
"Who knows?" He replied. "I stay out of its business, and it stays out of mine."  
The girl grinned at the normality of his reply while madness reigned around. Just like that poem! She realized. "One fine day in the middle of the night, two dead men got up to fight. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other." As the final word left her mouth, the ground below them began to shake and crack apart.  
Nigels eyes flashed open and the Bill shrieked in the same high-pitched, girly tone as the Queen. "Muffins! Now you've gone and done it!" He pulled the hat off of his head and shook it, the brim flapping in and returning to its regular size.  
A clawed, decaying hand shot up from the ground and groped around in the air above, joined by a second, then a third, then a fourth.  
Alice couldn't help but stare on in wonder as the two pairs of arms pulled two bodies from the packed earth. Each stood no more than five feet high and were as round and robust as the tree that they had been buried under, and aside from their heads facing the wrong direction, the corpses were in surprisingly good condition. As they drew themselves up, the two turned back to back and began to converse. "Well!" Began one, with a thick English accent. "I must say, that was without a doubt the rudest awakening I have ever experienced." "Quite so!" Proclaimed the second. "When I find the one that dared to such a terrible job of bringing us back then I shall most likely knock his or her bleeding head off."  
Alice cleared her throat, all the while thinking that it perhaps was not the smartest thing to do. "Umm… Excuse me, good sirs. I'm dreadfully sorry but I believe it was me that woke you and I never meant to and I'm really, really, awfully sorry."  
The two men looked up at her and raised their eyebrows in perfect unison. "One moment please miss." They turned so that they were facing – yet not facing – her and lifted their heads off, swapped them, and placed them on the correct way around.  
Alice hid her face from the spectacle and felt bile rising in the back of her throat at the sounds that issued from the pair.  
"You may look now, if you so please, miss."  
Alice looked up at the Hatter and the Queen, who both gave her amused smiles and nodded. She turned her head back to the pair and gasped at them.  
"Tweedles Dum and Dee, at your service." They said in unison with a deep bow.


	8. When The Rest Of Heaven Was Blue

Like a dirty, brown and cream lightning bolt, the March Hare flitted through the forest on his agile legs. Dark trees blew past him in a blur of brown and dark green, their distinct shapes lost in the blanket of darkness that so quickly spread through Wonderland. The night wind blew through both the man's true ears and his long, thin, bone-like prosthetic ears. Both of them were flattened behind him and fanned out like small wings, giving him extra lift and speed while stopping him from careening out of control if he turned too sharply.  
His movement through the forest was silent and quick, his feet hardly ever touching the ground and never making a noise. The night noise pooled around his ears, crickets and wind and rustling leaves. He allowed himself to grin arrogantly at the unexpected turn of events that the night had bought. _Alice, back in Wonderland. _He mused as he spun elegantly around a tree, his razor sharp claws digging in to its bark and scoring it hundreds of times. _Not only back, but in cohorts with Nigel and her ex-Majesty… The Ace will be most pleased. _  
He threw back his head and cackled in to the night, startling the birds from their roosts and creatures from their sleep.  
Through the growing mist before him, the first spires and battlements of Wonderland Castle rose with horrific splendour. Around it were strewn the discarded ruins of the city that was hailed by all as a technological marvel, a wonder of ingenuity and engineering, designed by Nigel Tickwall himself to be impenetrable from outside attack. Marchy chuckled once again. After the Queen had been exiled and the Ace had taken over, anyone in the city who opposed him had been slaughtered. This, unfortunately for them, was nearly everyone. For if no one was able to get in, then how would anyone else get out?  
With a running leap, he sprung up on to the crumbling wall that surrounded the city and quickly leapt over it.

Once inside the city, he paused, crouched on the ground. Marchy's ears swivelled out and spun around on themselves, scanning the area for any noise that might betray would-be attackers. Though a large majority of the population of the city had been slaughtered, there were still a few that had survived, driven to insanity by the atrocities they had witnessed. They had become something less than human, more vicious and barbaric than even the Jabberwocks that dwelled in the catacombs below the castle. Hearing nothing, he rose cautiously to his feet and proceeded at a swift pace to the centre of the city, and his destination.  
Somewhere nearby a rock clattered over the ruined ground. Marchy's ears swivelled to assess its position, as he leapt on to an adjacent wall, kicking off it and landing delicately on the roof opposite. He drew his long, curved katana from is sheath on his back with a sinister hiss and crouched low on the rooftop, eyes and ears trained on where the rock had tumbled from. Not a muscle moved for a full five minutes, the only sound coming from his steady breathing. Another rock tumbled, and a rat crawled out from where it had fallen from. The March Hare relaxed, slipping his sword back in to its place on his back.  
The great tower still loomed before him and he raised a hand to shield his eyes from the moonlight. There was still a mile or two of city ruins that separated him from the Castle. He was determined to make it by midnight.  
With a quick check behind him, the Hare took three steps backward, then launched himself off the roof and began a sadistic game of leap frog over building tops to reach the Castle.


	9. The Pool Of Tears

A fire crackled merrily from a bundle of dead sticks that the Hatter had found, the teapot over the top of them slowly bringing its self to boil as the group listened to the twins recount their orders. "We are to escort the three of you –"  
"What about me?!" Interrupted Bill.  
The Tweedles stared at him with identical looks of disdain. "You're expendable." The two replied.  
Bills head sunk and Alice patted his hand tenderly. "Continue, and no more personal remarks, they're very rude."  
Nigel snorted in to his tea.  
"Well." The twins resumed in unison. "We are to escort the _three _of you to the house of Gryffin, there in you will learn the secret of defeating the Ace. Unfortunately, the only way to get there is by taking a slight detour..."  
The Queen raised her eyebrow at them, but spoke nothing.  
"It's a small, unlikely, infinitesimally unlikely, probably-not-even-worth-worrying-about chance that we may or may not possibly have to consider the chance of attempting to cross the Pool of Tears."  
The Twins cowered as outrage flashed over the faces of both the Queen and Nigel, Nigel throwing a teacup at them and the Queen dropping back in to her old habit of ordering beheadings.  
"Never in a Brazilian years will I let Alice go anywhere near that horrid place!" Blurted out Nigel, unaware that a Brazilian wasn't actually a number.  
The Queen glared at the twins, causing them to shrink away with fear. "What the hell sort of game do you think you're playing at?"  
Alice stood in confusion. "But... But I don't understand! What's so terribly about the Pool of Tears? I mean, if I recall correctly, I created it last time, didn't I?"  
The Hatter gently placed a hand on his charges shoulder and drew her back to the ground with him. "Yes, Alice, and that's exactly the point. It's congested with sorrow and fear, backlogged with angst and terror and constipated with horrible images."  
Alice ignored his rather crude remark and pressed on. "But... I don't think..."  
"Then you shouldn't – Sorry." Nigel stopped himself, blushing crimson.  
Alice rolled her eyes at him. "I don't think –"  
"Then you – DAMN IT!" He swore. "Say something else, please?"  
Instead of getting angry, Alice giggled at the erratic man. "Of course. I don't... believe that I understand why it's so dangerous."  
Tweedle Dum picked up a stick nearby him. "Allow me to demonstrate, Alice. This stick, let us pretend that it is you, yes?"  
The girl nodded.  
"This fire is the Pool of Tears. Now, when you place the stick over the top of it, there seems to be no damage done. That is what will happen to you when we sail across it. Seemingly no damage, but in reality..." He pulled the stick away from the flames and placed it in to his cup of tea, where it fizzed and hissed as the heat dissipated. "In reality, you will be continually tormented by your deepest sorrows, worst fears and more. Everything that ever scared you will be in front of your eyes, from the bogey-man, to the monster under your bed, even getting in trouble from your parents. Everything."  
The campfire was silent, nobody daring to speak as Alice tried to absorb the information. After several minutes, she finally spoke. "So... What can we do to protect me from it?"  
The Queen sighed and threw another large stick on the fire. "Absolutely nothing, I'm afraid." She sighed. "We may have to either leave you behind, take the long way around, or send you home."  
"She has to come with us." Spake the Tweedles in unison. "According to the Gryphon, she's integral to the plan."  
Alice paused, considering an idea which had rudely interrupted. "This... terror. It will probably drive me mad, wont it?"  
"Without a doubt." Replied the Tweedles.  
Alice grinned happily. "Oh well, at least then I shall fit in here a bit better. But, if I were to have someone who was equally as mad with me, surely then I won't be as mad as we think?"  
Each of them stopped to consider this, Nigel stroking his beard and the Queen staring morosely in to the distance.  
"I... I suppose it could be done. It doesn't make any sense, so it should work..." Tweedle Dee contemplated.  
The girls eyes sparkled. "Perfect then! I suppose I'm already going quite mad for contemplating this, but it would be so much fun."  
Nigel merely grinned in to his tea-cup.....

A frozen mist dangled above the glassy water in the Pool of Tears, clinging on to it by the tips of its wispy fingers; never quite being there, but never quite leaving either. The Pool was a clear, crystal blue – the same colour as Alice's eyes and dress - that was astoundingly out of place in its desolate environment.  
Tumultuous clouds still hovered over all of Wonderland, and the lack of sunlight coupled with the icy chill coming in off of the Pool gave even Nigel a slight shiver of fear in its presence. Winds howled through the trees like tormented spirits and the area around the Pool was nothing at all like a beach, but was more of a collection of dirty grey rocks and pebbles of varying sizes that looked like they would much rather be somewhere else as soon as possible.  
Curiosity began to take a hold of Alice and she stepped forward inch by inch towards the water's edge to peer in to its azure depths. Smaller rocks crumbled to dust under her feet and she somehow thought that they were human skulls, a giggle rising to her throat as she meandered closer towards the water. In the back of her mind she was sure that could hear warnings to stop, that she should turn back and not go near it, but it was rather pretty and it would be fascinating to see what someone would look like as she held their head below the water and laughed in glee as she watched their eyes go flat...  
Someone dark green and extraordinarily strong grasped her waist with an iron grip and flung the screaming girl away from the water with little to no effort.  
As soon as she was a distance away from the curious liquid, Alice's mind returned to sanity and the thoughts of murder and mayhem fled her mind, chased viciously by her now-reigning sanity.  
Nigel grasped her head in his calloused hands and focused her crying eyes in to his own concerned face. The girl screamed and twisted away, running as fast as she could to where ever the lack wasn't with her heart racing, its noise pounding in her ears and silencing the cries of the Queen and Nigel as they called to her for calm. ....

The further away Alice ran from that accursed place, the calmer she became. Eventually the trees that had looked like nightmarish creatures intent on devouring her returned to trees, the screeching of demonic gargoyles returned to sounding as the chirping of birds and the air around her began to feel more like air and less like a thick soup, intent on holding her back and dragging her closer to madness.  
She slowed her run to a walk, but didn't stop moving away from the Pool. Tears continued to stream down her face in great rivers as she vowed never to return, even if Wonderlands existence did hang in the balance. Alice shrieked as a tree branch latched on to her face and swiped it away in fear, the lingering terror of all her nightmares still taunting her.....

Behind her, she heard the Hatter crashing through the undergrowth after her, his breathing starting to grow shallow and his gait to become slower as he neared her.  
"Alice..." He began quietly, reaching out his hand to place it on her shoulder.  
She whirled around and transfixed him with a venomous glare. "Don't touch me!" She spat at him, shocking the man so that he swiftly withdrew his hand.  
Alice sharply turned back from him and leaned against a conveniently placed tree, her shoulders quaking as she wept.  
Nigel stood there with his hand still half outstretched, uncertainty and worry lining his every feature as he watched the poor girl. His mind was in chaos, thoughts were struggling to be heard that had long since drowned in the sea of insanity that he had so carefully crafted together.  
Everything that he had ever believed about himself, everything that he had ever believed about the world he lived in had been crashing down around his ears lately. Nothing was making sense the way it used to. Or not making sense the way it didn't before... He wasn't even sure any more. Things weren't the way they were before, that much he knew for sure.  
"Alice?" He asked when she finally looked as though she had calmed down. "Alice, darling?" He carefully stepped toward her and turned her around, letting her fall awkwardly in to his arms. She clutched at his jacket and buried her face in to his chest.  
"I don't want to go back." She murmured, her voice muffled by his shirt and vest.  
Nigel stood there in shock, unsure of how to react to the girl's sudden change of emotion. He tentatively stretched his arms around her and stroked her golden hair, the scent of fairy floss drifting up from her. He pulled her away from him with a small degree of difficulty and smiled down at her. "I know you don't, but we need to."  
Alice nodded and gently mopped her eyes with the sleeve of her dress. She looked down at the patch of wet on the Hatters vest. "Oh gosh look at me." She grumbled. "If I keep up at this rate then we'll have a new Pool of Tears to worry about."  
Nigel laughed softly and lead Alice away from the forest by the crook of her arm.....


	10. Where Madness Reigns

On the beach where they had left them, the Queen, Mrs. Shire, Bill and the Tweedles had waited anxiously for Alice's return while trying to devise a plan to get her across the Pool without her reverting to madness.  
As the Hatter and Alice exited the forest, arm in arm, the Queen rose to her feet with a blank expression and made a bee-line for the Hatter.  
"Ah! Good Queen, I seem to have retrieved our run away girl and –"  
He was silenced by the Queens fist connecting with the front of his face in quite a fierce and brutal fashion. Nigel's eyes swivelled for a second before he fell backwards to the ground. The Queen's hands shot out and grabbed his Hat as he fell, yanking it from his head.  
Alice stared in shock at the Queen who started to pull and twist at the Hat until it had been re-shaped in to an even larger and more pretentious than what it had previously been, almost large enough to fit Alice inside it.  
"What do you think you're doing?!" She screeched at the Queen.  
The Queen sighed, somehow managing to do so while incorporating an exclamation point. "It was the only way I could get his Hat."

With the Hatter tied to a mast in the middle of a boat, his eyes still rolling around in his head, Alice was shoved deep down in to his Hat and put on to the boat with him.  
The Queen leant down in to the Hat and kissed Alice on the forehead. "Now please, dear, whatever happens stay inside the Hat. For no reason are you to exit the Hat. Arms, legs and all other extremities are to stay inside the Hat at all times. Do you understand?"  
Alice nodded, careful to keep her head from poking out the brim of the Hat. She noticed that recently, the Hat had been spoken of as if it were a separate entity to the Hatter. She made a mental note not to remember this, because she was sure that the easiest way to forget something was to try and make sure you remembered it. So clearly the easiest way to remember something would be to try and make sure you forgot it. "Don't worry your highness; I'll make sure the Hat doesn't remove its self from me."  
The Queen looked curiously at Alice, sighed once more and pulled herself away from the Hat, which rocked slightly as Alice made herself comfortable within. She nodded at Bill, who was standing on a boat opposite the one Alice and the Hatter occupied. The boat creaked as the Queen stepped on board, the two Tweedles sitting idly at the front with their legs dangling over the side.  
"Better pull those rotting stumps up, you two. Never know what might decide to take a nip at them."  
The twins sharply pulled their legs up as Bill untied the mooring line and set sail with the two small boats joined by a multitude of ropes and logs.  
Then as silent as the mist that hung over the lake, the two ships slide into the water and skated across its glassy surface.

Alice jolted inside the Hat as she felt the ships leave their moorings and start to glide across the lake. Inside the Hat, she could feel the pressure of the Madness outside trying to force its way in, while the other-worldly construction of the Hatters Hat kept it at bay. She shivered as the cold of the air outside leaked inside, and wished that she had a petticoat or a cardigan to keep her warm. Perhaps if she was to reach out and pull off the Hatters coat, just push her arm out and grab it... She slapped her arm before it could reach its self out. "Naughty arm!" She scolded. "The Queen told us that we are to remain inside the Hat no matter what."

She could feel the inertia of the boat rocking from side to side as if waves were lapping against its bow, yet she could not hear the sound of any sort of disturbance on the water outside. But then, how was the boat rocking? Alice strained against her own curiosity to peek just the tiniest part of her head out of the brim of the Hat to see if there were waves or if it was just a trick, beginning to feel terrified that she would give in sooner or later.

Outside the Hat, the Madness raged around the two boats. The air swirled and twisted to form semi-visible monsters before being banished to create even more from their parts. The Queen, Bill, the Tweedles and a moping Mrs. Shire – who detested water on the pretext of being a cat – noticed none of this as they were already Mad. The Hatter was still unconscious and tied to the mast, so it took no notice of him.  
It created spears and daggers of Insanity and threw them at the Hat only to have them slide harmlessly down its surface. The Madness roared in fury and fumed silently across the Pool, leaving no trace in its wake till its absurd mind formed a plan to corrupt the Sane mind that travelled through its territory.

As silence rang out inside the Hat, with Alice curled up at its bottom and trying to sleep to make the trip go faster, she was sure she heard a voice calling to her from outside.  
"Alice... Alice where are you?" The voice whispered to her, its words whispering like wind through the trees. "Alice where have you gone...?"  
She strained to hear the voice, wondering who would be calling for her in the middle of the Pool of Tears.  
"Come home Alice... We misss you..." Whispered a different voice, deeper than the last one.  
_Come home? _Thought Alice. _Where would I go home to here? _  
"We won't sssend you away Alice... We promissse... We're sso ssssorry..." Whispered the voices in unison  
Alice gasped. She recognised the calling. The sound of the voices. It was so familiar she couldn't believe that she didn't hear it before.....

It was her parents, calling and pleading for her to come home. In her mind she saw their tear streaked faces, standing in her bedroom and looking over the bed that she always slept so soundly in. Walking around the living room where they could always find her reading a book and staring thoughtfully at the looking glass hanging above the mantelpiece.  
Without a second thought, Alice stood up; ready to cry out to her parents and tell them that she was here. As soon as her head exited the Hat, a gust of wind slammed in to her and sent her toppling out of it completely, throwing her in to the air with its force.


	11. Turning And Turning In The Widening Gyre

The Queen and Mrs. Shire scream as they saw the Madness grasp Alice and fling her into the air and drop back down on to the deck of the boat, their voices becoming lost in the howling wind.  
"Bill!" Roared the Queen, her eyes ablaze with fear. "Turn us about! We must get to Alice!" She turned from the terrified boy and locked her eyes back on Alice's convulsing form on the deck of the boat opposite them, the ten meters of rope separating them stretching out for an eternity.  
The Queen reached inside her dress and withdrew a single, 'S' shaped throwing knife and gripped it firmly in her hand. She twisted her arm backwards and upwards and locked Nigel in her view, trying to force everything else out of her mind so she wouldn't be distracted. Then, with a quick prayer to whom so ever may be listening, she flung the blade in a wide arc so that it curved around the Hatter and lodged its self in the mast, cutting through his bindings and letting him fall face-down on the deck.

As soon as Nigel's still-swollen nose crunched on to the wood, he awoke with a start, screaming at the top of his voice in an annoying high pitched voice. "Solidarity! Strength! Damn the pumpkins, full speed ahead and... Alice?"  
He spied the young lady mere feet away from him, now lying peacefully on the boat as if she was asleep. The air was still, the Madness having dissipated for now.  
Nigel ran a hand through his hair at the sight of her. He may have been Mad, but he knew that Alice shouldn't be lying so peacefully on the deck of a boat in a sea of Madness. Nigel's mind kicked him with an image of their discussion with the Tweedles last night.  
_"Seemingly no damage, but in reality..." He pulled the stick away from the flames and placed it in to his cup of tea, where it fizzed and hissed as the heat dissipated.  
_"Oh no... Alice." He threw off his coat and launched himself at her, sitting atop the girl and peeling her eyelids open to stare at her eyes. Each one had a ring of bright orange swirling on the edge of the iris, getting brighter and stronger with every second that passed.  
Clarity gripped at Nigel's mind and he swept the girl up in his arms and carried her back over to the Hat, ready to drop her inside.  
"Oh, don't worry Nigel my sweet." A voice that dripped like honey whispered somewhere near his ear. "Surely me being mad shan't be such a terrible thing?"  
Nigel gasped as Alice straightened herself and stared in to his eyes. With a flirtatious giggle, she bent forward and kissed him full on the lips. With great difficulty, Nigel tore himself away from the maiden. "I'm sorry my dear." He whispered in a hoarse voice.  
Alice cocked her head in confusion, her blonde hair falling across her face and hiding her nearly completely orange eyes. "Sorry? Sorry for what?"  
The Hatter whacked her on the back of the head with the butt of his pistol and staggered slightly as Alice became little more than dead weight in his arms.  
He placed her gently inside the Hat, careful to do no more damage than he had already done. When he leant back, he clicked his fingers and the brim of his hat folded in on its self to create and impenetrable wall to ensure she wouldn't get out.  
"Nigel!" He heard the Queen scream from the other boat. "What happened is she okay?!"  
The Hatter walked over to his discarded jacket and picked it up, placing it gently around his shoulders and slipping his arms in to it. From inside its folds he pulled out a smaller hat and inspected it before placing it on his head. "No..." He called back. "No, she isn't."

The March Hare skidded to a stop outside the colossal gates leading in to Wonderland Tower, sending up a plume of grey dust around him, obscuring him from view. His chest heaved from the activity of leaping over the rooftops. With a grandiose motion he drew his sword and stood at the ready with his back to the door.  
Somewhere in the ruins something had caught his scent, and now it was hunting him. He had been not twelve hundred meters from the Tower, when a small shower of rock pellets had been hurtled at him from below with more than just the chance few hitting their marks. Marchy could already feel the welts and bruises from the smaller ones appearing on his torso.  
He stepped quickly to the side as another rock came whistling out of the darkness beyond him, while the second bounced harmlessly off of his sword. Marchy's artificial ears swung forward over his eyes to augment his vision and he took a small step backwards when he saw what was waiting for him.  
Seven creatures that Wonderlanders now referred to as the Undesirables were bounding out of the ruins beyond. In their hunched over state, they were little more than five feet tall. Yet their strong, heavily muscled arms and legs gave them great bursts of speed and formidable fighting prowess. Marchy tightened his grip on his sword as the Undesirables snarled at him.  
As slowly and carefully as he could, Marchy slipped off his left shoe and twisted his leg so he could pull out his access-card with his toes.  
Across from him the Undesirables dug their clawed hands deeper into the dirt, crunching rocks and – Marchy shuddered to think of it – bones.  
With a deft flick of his feet, Marchy flung the card in to the Enigma machine that the Hatter created to stop unauthorised persons from accessing the tower.  
With polished precision, the door slid silently in to the walls and allowed the Hare to zip inside before they shuddered closed with an ominous boom, leaving the Undesirables outside to howl and pound for blood.

Inside, the halls were dark and silent as the Hare meandered through them, using his ears to hear his way through the dark by analysing the echoes coming off the walls. He stepped confidently and cockily over fallen debris and crumbled statues. All around him he could smell the decay seeping through the walls, infesting the very air that he breathed. Marchy crinkled his nose at the festering smell that emanated all around, willing himself to move faster through the ruined castle and to the Excelsiatrix that Nigel had invented. Very few people ever trusted the contraption – partly due to the fact that it was little more than a large tin can being winched up and down the building in a specially made tube to remove the hassle of climbing stairs - but Marchy had always held a small amount of faith in the lunatic's contraptions.

The March Hare stepped inside the Excelsiatrix as fast as he could, the devices door rattling behind him as they closed. Inside the Excelsiatrix were a multitude of buttons in two neat rows on the wall, each button signifying a different floor of the Tower to which one would wish to go. The highest floors required a key to access them, as they housed the Royal Families and Wonderlands most sacred artefacts. Marchy lightly tapped the highest button and slipped the key in to its paired lock and gave it a sharp twist, dislodging rusted metal and dust from the gears inside.  
With a mighty heave, he pulled down on a lever to his right which released the weight that was used to keep the Excelsiatrix down. His stomach jerked as the box was pulled ever upwards through over thirty stories of decrepit and uncared for civic offices and the like, each floor more brightly lit than the last until he reached the twenty fifth floor which was bathed in light and completely refurbished. The next fifteen were the same, and Marchy allowed himself a moment of peace to run over his story before he told the Ace. _Alice came back, the Hatter is looking after her, the Queen is with them, they're looking for the Tweedles. Nothing that I can't handle - _ The doors of the Excelsiatrix cranked open to reveal a full deck of Spade soldiers, lined up two-by-two on either side of the doors, each of them cradling their large swords in their scrawny arms.. _– By myself... _"Well 'Hi' there boys. Nice night for it, eh?"  
The Cards glared at him and turned side on, creating a hallway of their bodies for him to pass through. The Hare gulped and tried to hide his nerves as he followed it, knowing where it would lead him.

In the centre of the Throne Room, lounging upon a large heart-shaped throne which had been roughly painted black, was the Ace. He was completely un-alike every other card, standing well over seven feet tall and somehow heavily muscled. His body was covered in deep matte-black armour that was so black that it seemed to draw the light in and absolutely destroy it.  
The longer that the March Hare stared at it, the more he worried that the darkness would draw every part of him in, suck him in to an infinite vortex and obliterate him as easily as if he was a fly... Marchy respectfully kneeled before the intimidating figure, placing one hand on his knee and the other on the cold marble floor in a fist. "I understand that you have summoned me here, your highness?"  
The Ace nodded deliberately, rising to his feet and pointing at the Hare. "You're late."  
Marchy cringed at the malice in the Cards voice. Surely it was only a few minutes? What did it matter? "I know, your highness, a thousand apologies. I was held up in the ruins outside, I was wary of attacks from the Undesirables."  
"Very well. Report, and be quick about it." He turned around and made to sit back on the throne before pausing. "Considering your past record of incidences, Collin Hare, this had better be very, very good news."  
A sly grin crept up Marchy's face. _Oh yes, you pompous swine. _He chuckled to himself. _You'll jump in your scary little tin-boots when you hear this..._


	12. Chivalry Wears A Long Coat

**Firstly, I'd like to give a proper 'Hello!' to all of you reading this. I know that my updating of this story has been rather erratic since it began last year, but a few things have happened that caused that haha. There was periods of one episode or more a week, then for a month or more nothing, and now you're getting five or six in succession. I'd like to apologize for the inconstancy, but I'm sure you all understand =P  
The second thing is that I've already written this story up to a few chapters from the end (I won't say how many though), which has allowed me to be liberal with the updating. But once I reach a certain point, I'll update once a week so I have time to write and check through the chapter before its posted.**

**Third is a 'Thank you!' for all of you who take the time out to not only read this story, but to comment on it and provide criticism. Though I may not reply, I do read it and it gives me a fuzzy feeling inside ^^  
So without further adieu, let us rejoin the Hatter as he attempts to save Alice from Madness...**

* * *

Nigel leapt off the boat and landed on the shore with Alice in his arms, his Hat askew on his head and his breathing ragged.  
The Queen stepped daintily off of her boat with Bill and the Twins following close behind her with their stubbly, rotten legs creaking under their weight.  
The sand crunched underfoot as Nigel raced as far as he could away from the accursed Pool of Tears and the Madness contained therein. His heart pounded in his throat as his fingers scrabbled for the young ladies neck while his feet flitted over the loose gravel rocks. Nigel came skidding to a stop and dropped down to one knee to allow Alice to be lowered daintily to the ground. His hand was still pressed to the warm skin of her neck as he struggled to find a pulse in her body.  
The Queen leaned over him with her face pale. "Nigel, be sensible, she couldn't have died from Madness..."  
Nigel sighed with relief. "It's not that, it's..."  
"It's what? The fact you conked her on the back of the head with one of your blasted gadgets?"  
Nigel nodded a little too enthusiastically. "I don't know why she looked so panicked! I was wearing a long coat and was looking very chivalrous, if I do say so myself."

The Queen rolled her eyes at him. "That's all well and good, but what do we do? She's as insane as you or I!"  
"I dislike the term 'insane'." Replied the Hatter, placing air quotes around the word 'insane'. "I much prefer to be referred as 'mentally hilarious'."  
The Mentally Hilarious Hatter was forcibly lifted up by his elbows by the Tweedles - one on each arm – and was moved away from the sedentary Alice. They inspected her in silence, poking and prodding her with their fingers and looking under her eyelids at the glowing ring of orange that was still encircling her iris. Clucking their tongues, they removed their heads and placed them on each other's bodies, stroked the others chin and then put their heads back on the right way. "She can still be saved." Was all they could say. "We must go to Gryffin immediately though. This way." They lifted the girl up and placed her on their shoulders as they marched off in the direction of a small plume of smoke that rose through the trees a few hundred meters away.

Ahead of the Queen, the Tweedles continued to step purposefully through a worn track on the forest floor, the large trees giving way to low ferns and shrubs till there was nearly enough room to see the grey sky. All around her were signs that Wonderland was certainly lacking in imagination. Nearly every single fern around her was brown and rotten, its own life detracted as Wonderlands was. The Queen looked down at her hands and furrowed her brow, praying that she wouldn't find signs of decay on herself. Wrinkles at her age would be disastrous and would require fortnightly injections of Basilisk venom if this were to keep up...  
Through a gap in the bushes ahead, she saw where the Tweedles were leading them. In a small, clearly artificial clearing and surrounded by fruit trees and flowers of every kind imaginable was a small cottage covered completely in vines and flowers. Perched atop of the trees, the Queen noticed, was Mrs. Shire - who had been noticeably absent since they stepped off of the boats.

Nigel raced past the Tweedles to swing open a gate made from twisted vines and tangled branches. As she passed through it the Queen noticed that it was indeed made from the very forest its self; she made a note to see if the house was made in the same fashion.  
Once the troupe had entered the property, a door in the cottage crinkled outward with the sound of leaves being crunched during a crisp autumn day. From within stepped out Gryffin, her normally superior stance having been replaced with a more hunched over and humbled appearance. A look of curiosity crossed her face when she saw the collection of people outside her doorstop, which was quickly replaced with fear when she saw Alice. "Oh no... She crossed the Pool, didn't she?"  
The Tweedles nodded, never taking their eyes off of the Gryphon. "Well, bring her in then and I'll make some tea."  
"Marvellous!" Yelled the Hatter. "Out of the way, old girl, there's tea to be had!" He shoved past the Queen and bolted directly passed the Tweedles, Alice and Gryffin to begin destroying the inside of the cottage in his desperate search for tea.

Nigel wandered around aimlessly, inspecting everything that wasn't nailed down and un-hinging everything that was. Plates were over-turned, tables were stuck to the roof and all the while he mumbled incoherently about being unable to find the tea pot.  
The Queen covered her mouth with one gloved hand and looked up with sorrow at Gryffin. "Oh Mrs. Gryffin, I'm so sorry! He just gets out of hand some times and he just can't be controlled… I'm dreadfully sorry."  
Gryffin winked slyly at the Queen. "Not to worry, my dear. I'll get my own back soon enough."  
The Queen cocked her head warily at the creature. "What are you going to do?"  
She laughed and mocked offense. "Me! Why, I'm not going to do anything! It's my toaster that will do all the work."  
On cue, Nigel walked up to the shiny, silver toaster in awe. "It's so… Warm, mesmerising, shiny and… It's just so… There!" He proceeded to stand over it, never blinking, just watching and waiting.  
Gryffin checked her watch and mumbled to the Queen. "Life long fear of bread in three… two… one…"  
The toast popped out of the toaster and flew in to the air, followed close behind by a screaming and blubbering Hatter who clung to the chandelier above, shouting about demons and possessions while firing wildly at the contraption.  
The Queen laughed raucously at the spectacle, delighting in seeing the Hatter so terrified of something so plain and unassuming.  
On the couch nearby, Alice stirred slightly and scrunched her face.  
"The nightmares are beginning." Sighed Gryffin. "Quickly, fetch me the teapot while I get the ingredients."  
The Queen began to ask where the teapot was, when one wall of the house – which was indeed made purely of vines – swished open to reveal an indentation which held a chipped teapot and several old mugs. The Queen lifted the teapot and a mug out and set them up on a table which had grown out of the ground while Gryphon coaxed some flowers hanging from the walls and ceiling to grow out a bit more till she could pull leaves off of them, before they retreated back in to the wall.  
"Hatter?" Questioned the Gryffin to the man who was still hanging on to the chandelier for dear life. "You wouldn't have a portable stove or anything on you, would you?"  
Nigel reached one severely trembling hand in to his coat and pulled out a shiny metal square. He gave it a shake – which wasn't too hard considering how badly he was quivering – and it unfolded to become a stove about a half meter in diameter.  
"Thank you darling." Cooed Gryffin. She set it up next to the table and placed the kettle on top, which was filled with water from vines that snaked down from the roof and formed a small funnel.

The Queen marvelled at Gryffins living home, and before long the kettle whistled cheerily.  
Gryphon poured the boiling water in to the mug and crushed the leaves she had collected in to it.  
Nigel swung upside down from the chandelier with his legs wrapped around it. "Aren't you going to put any sugar in it? Any milk?"  
Gryphon shook her head. "No. It would dilute the effect. She must take it immediately. Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee? If you would be so kind as to hold her down for me?"  
The Twins saluted by pressing their fists to the side of their heads and leapt on to Alice, pinning her down with their combined weight.  
From the walls stretched two thin vines that coiled in to Alice's mouth and prised it open. Gryffin stroked the girls blonde hair and stared in to the girls mouth. "Open up wide, and down the rabbit hole..." Quick as a flash she emptied the entire contents of the mug in to Alice's mouth. The vines let go and began to wind themselves around the girls head to lock her mouth shut and stop her from spitting out the concoction, which suddenly became a very viable option as the girl shuddered and shook violently. Her eyes flew open and rolled back in to her head as orange mist steamed from her nostrils and ears and leaked from the corners of her mouth.  
Nigel watched in astonishment at the spectacle. His eyes followed the orange steam up to the roof, which parted and allowed the steam to float up in to the sky. "I've got to try some of that..." He murmured.  
Alice's tremors began to subside and the grip that the vines had on her head loosened. The Tweedles took this as a cue to release their grip as well and slinked off of the girl to stand beside the Queen. "I say, what do you think the odds are that she'll be all cooked up in the brain-pan just from all this shaking type business?" Dum whispered to Dee.  
"I'll gladly hand over my left ear, if that be the case." Dee whispered back. The two sealed the deal with a handshake.  
The Queen ignored the two and turned her head to Gryffin, who was still standing over Alice with the utmost attention. "Well? Now what?"  
Gryffin never took her eyes from Alice. "Now we wait, and pray that we aren't too late."


	13. The Abscence Of Butter

Bill sat in a rather comfortable chair that was made of interwoven leaves with his injured leg held out in front of him on a footstool of something that resembled a blackberry bush, but with far less prickles. The magic of Wonderland seemed to be doing marvels for his leg, but it was nothing like it used to be. If someone was injured then they'd be right as rain in a few minutes (which was how the Queen was able to order so many executions with no drop in employment rate for her staff, or raise in the amount of life insurance paid out). Now however, even an anvil dropped on one's head took weeks to fully recover from. Bill scowled at his leg, cursing at it for its slow rate of cellular mitosis. Beside him, Mrs. Shire was lazily drifting in and out of view, sometimes returning with some sort of fish held tightly in her paws before disappearing again and having the fish fall down and land in her mouth – which was all that re-appeared.  
Alice had been sleeping soundly since the tea was given to her, with only small shivers coursing down her body at times. Bills eyes travelled along the girls delicate body, from the tips of her feet, along her rather long legs, to her arms and hands. One hand – he grudgingly noticed – was clasped firmly within Nigel's own. Ever since he was coaxed down from the ceiling with a full pot of Earl Grey, he had been glued to Alice's side. His eyes never left her while he asked Gryffin to check how she was doing. It was the most focused that he had ever been.

Bill allowed himself a small smile. As marvellous as Alice was, there was not a snowballs chance in hell that she would ever fall for the likes of Nigel Tickwall the Extremely Flammable. She'd much prefer someone that was charming, handsome and relatively sane and... A lizard who was unable to retain his true form because of lack of Imagination. The smile slid off his face like sap from a tree.  
An elegant hand was pressed lightly onto Bills shoulder. He jolted slightly and looked up and backwards into the Queens motherly face. "I was only... I mean I just wanted to know... You see she seemed to be..."  
The Queen smiled. "Don't try and worm your way out of matters of the Heart with me, young man."  
Fire rushed through Bills body as he blushed as brightly as the Queens dress.  
"There is nothing to be ashamed off, my dear. The Heart is its own master." She squeezed his shoulder firmly.  
Bill blew a strand of dark hair out of his eyes. "I know, but, her and Nigel have such history with each other. Tea parties, daring rescues and the like. All I've managed to do is make myself a nuisance and get stabbed once or twice."  
A chuckle erupted from the Queens lips and she removed her hand from Bills shoulder to place it over her mouth. "Nigel and Alice? Please, darling, he's insane."  
The hopeful glint in Bills eyes sparkled back to life instantly.  
Nigel gasped from the bed. "She's awake! Alice, can you hear me? ... Does anyone else have a sense of Déjà Vu? Or is it just me?"  
The Queen and Bill hurried over to the bed and peered over Nigel's shoulder to watch the girl awaken.  
Alice's eyes fluttered open and immediately began searching the faces crowded over her, frowning when she saw Gryffin, smiling when she saw the Queen and Bill and beaming as she came to Nigel. "Hi." She whispered.  
Nigel squeezed her hand. "Hi." He whispered back.  
Bill stood quickly and made a noise that sounded like "I'll get some more tea." Before hobbling off, completely unnoticed by anyone but the Queen.  
From across the room, the Tweedles stared at each other in intense concentration. Their faces were only centimetres apart as they looked deeply in to each other's eyes. A vein in Tweedle Dums head twitched slightly. "I see... A silver cross with the number 7 at the top and the letter A at the bottom."  
Tweedle Dee sighed and slumped back in his chair. "Nope, nope, nope and nope. It was a purple triangle with a 9 at the top point at an H in the centre.  
His twin mirrored him with the same air of defeat. "Well that settles it then, I suppose. Shall I pay you now or later?"  
"Pay me later." Said Dee with a wave of his hand. "I don't mind adding it to you debt." He pulled out a scroll of paper and unfurled it, scribbling a small something down the bottom. "What about our other wager, eh? Reckon the lass is as coo-coo as she was before the tea?"  
Dum shrugged and stood up. "Shall we find out?"  
"Gladly."

Alice blinked sleepily and stretched, making sure not to loosen her grip on Nigel's calloused hand nor remove her eyes from his. "So, did you miss me?"  
Nigel laughed. "Of course I did, silly."  
"How much?"  
Nigel placed a finger to his chin in contemplation and furrowed his brow.  
Alice giggled at him. "Did you miss me more than what you'd miss a plate of butter?"  
A shocked Nigel gasped at her. "Butter is no laughing matter, my dear. Especially the absence there-of. But if it counts, I missed you much more than I would a plate of butter." He added in a low voice.

The Twins stood a few meters away as the two stared at each other and spoke in whispers. "Yep." Sighed Dum. "Definitely insane. You win again."  
Dee smiled smugly. "I always do."


	14. Unfamiliar Ceilings

**Once again a massive thank you to everybody for the reviews and such ^^  
Yes, this is the second chapter I've uploaded today, but we're getting closer to the threshold of what I've written and I really want to start getting in to the nitty-gritty of the story, along with a few nice twists that will possibly make people want to cause me bodily harm... I won't give too much away, but... Nah screw it, I won't give anything away =P  
Leave any comments and queries in the Reviews section, and I'm always open to criticism to help improve my work =)**

**

* * *

  
**

The March Hare walked at a painfully slow pace through the dank underbelly of Wonderland Tower, careful to never stray from the path that would take him straight back to the entrance. Underneath the tower – in fact, underneath the entire city – was a catacomb of subterranean caves and passageways used as a prison for criminals found guilty of charges warranting a death penalty. Though since no one was capable of dying in Wonderland, thus making a death penalty a rather ludicrous idea, they were instead pushed in to the Catacombs to wander for eternity. Either that, or be eaten by one of the monsters that were bred specifically to live under the ground. One of which, the Hare was here specifically to find.  
He carried on his back a small pouch which held a rather potent mixture of fresh pig meat, human blood and cows urine. The combination was proven to be powerful bait for the creature that he was charged with finding, yet in the three hours that he had been underground he had found neither hide nor hair of the beast. Yes, he had found a few of the prisoners that had been wandering around - which was how he had procured the human blood – but nothing substantial.  
The creature beside him howled mournfully.  
"Don't complain to me." Huffed Marchy. "I'm just as unhappy to be down here as you are." He retorted, until he remembered that he had entered the Catacombs alone. Like lightning, he threw the pack against the far wall and drew an extendable stun-baton from his jacket.  
The snarling beast that he had found pounced on the pack and began tearing it to pieces, devouring the meat that it contained within seconds before turning on its heels and facing the Hare.  
Each small spark of bottled lighting from the stun-baton lit the beast with an unearthly blue glow, revealing its bipedal body, a back full of bristling spines, wickedly curved claws and a mouth full of row upon row of dagger sharp teeth.  
"Well now," Chuckled Colin Hare. "Wanna dance, little Armageddasaur?"  
The beast flung its self at him at a speed not even the Hare could match. He flung the baton out in front of as fast as he could and released a silent breath of relief as it ran head-first in to it, knocking its self unconscious. The Hare lifted it up and carried it back to the entrance. The Cards opened the door for him and stood at silent attention as he flung the creature in to a wheeled cart in front of him. "Take him to the Lab." He ordered the Cards. "Give him the growth serum and tell me when he is of sufficient size."  
The Cards nodded and wheeled the unconscious Armageddasaur away to some far-off part of the Tower.  
Colin cracked his neck and placed the baton back within the folds of his coat. "If this thing doesn't kill the infamous Mad Hatter and his little Alice, then I may actually have to do it myself." He mused aloud.

The strange nausea that had been plaguing Alice had begun to subside. Her head ceased its relentless spinning and the feeling of weightlessness that her arms and legs had become so fond of had slipped away, the strength of her young bones returning to her.  
The rest of the troupe had long since gone to bed, yet Alice lay awake staring at an unfamiliar ceiling made of twisting vines and interlacing branches. Through a gap between two branches, the moon of Wonderland shone its pale light upon her face. Her golden hair gleamed as the moons stolen hue danced over it.  
Alice twisted her head slightly to the left and began to study the moon, noticing small differences between this one and the one she was used to seeing outside of her own bedroom window at night. The pockmarks on its face were in the wrong places, and she could see one that stretched from the northern pole to the equator.  
Alice shivered as the realisation that this was truly a different world sank in. She had already spent the better half of four days here, but still it was strange and alien.  
She closed her eyes as a tear rolled silently down her cheek. Mother and Father would be worried to death about her, especially since this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. She could see them now, Father stoically pacing in front of the fireplace, his motions copied by the false version of himself in the looking glass as Mother sat on the lounge staring at the chess set, its pieces frozen mid-game, unable to move forwards and incapable of retreat.  
Alice peeked out from underneath her eyelids, half hoping to find herself back in her room, snug tight in her own bed.  
But of course she wasn't.  
She was still in Gryffins naturally created cottage, with the Hatter dozing by the doorway with his arms and legs up in the air like a giant puppy, and the Queen resting peacefully in an armchair made of twigs, vines and leaves.  
Still slightly perturbed, Alice shut her eyes and blocked out the image of the unfamiliar ceiling and let sleep wrap her up.

No less than an hour later, as the coldest and darkest of nights hours crept through the cottage, something else crept through the dark forest towards the house and its occupants.  
Something that moved silently around trees whose trunks were as thick as its arms.  
Something that crushed branches that were as long as its teeth.  
Something that had a small, anthropomorphic Hare clinging to its needle-like fur...


	15. Out Of SPACE Out of TIME

***Whacks head against desk* CHESHIRE CAT IS A GUY!!! AAARRGGHH!!! /facepalm I KNEW that there was something I was forgetting! =( Thank you "..." for pointing that out =/ It's too late in the story now for me to change it, but if I ever do a revised version, you can be sure that you'll be in the "Acknowledgements". Cheshire Cat being a female seems to work better for what I've written, or so I feel, but yeah. Or it could be because in the show I was in, the Cat was cast as a female haha. Oh well =)  
Boosh: No, it's not based off the manga. I wasn't even aware there was a manga O.O But I want it now... What's it called?  
SingerToPotatoes: Sorry, but there won't be consistant "2 in one day" updates =P It's dropping back to once a week (most likely a Wednesday) after this chapter. But please, don't hate me! You'll know why after this chapter...  
Please, if there's any other inconsistencies that anyone has found during this, let me know! Also a thanks for taking the time to review to all of you regulars such as James, and everyone else who took the time to do so =) I hope you enjoy the chapter and remember to review it once you're finished ^^  
Raff.**

**

* * *

  
**

First the roof of the cottage was ripped off and demolished. One second it was there, the next it was chip bark being flung through the air by monstrous jaws.  
Second, the Hatter cat-flipped from his position on the ground and cart wheeled to the left, narrowly avoiding a clawed foot that slammed in to the ground. Delicately, he reached out with one foot to gently tap the Queen on the shoulder - who had somehow managed to remain asleep despite the ruckus made by the beast when it less-than-quietly demolished part of the cottage and the terrified screams of Alice. She awoke immediately, however, when the fetid stench of the monsters breath clawed its way up her nostrils. She gasped and then immediately retched as she gazed up at it. "My word..." She coughed. "Hatter! Hatter it's an Armageddasaur!"  
"I'm a gettin' sore too, dear, but what's more important is WHERE THE BLOODY HELL DID MY TEAPOT GO??!!" The Hatter began rummaging through his coat, flinging strange objects out of the pockets and sending them sailing upwards in to the face of the Armageddasaur, who was becoming increasingly aggravated with the tiny man. It lifted up its paw and slammed it down on the Hatter, cracking the ground beneath him and sending shockwaves through the cottage.  
The Queen uncovered her eyes just in time to see a green felt hat fall softly to the floor, dust settling on top of it. But for the third time in the history of forever, the Hatter was not underneath his hat.

The Queen stood, shocked. No matter how much she willed her body to move, it wouldn't. A lump the size of Nigel's eccentric personality (which was a great deal larger than the Armageddasaur) began to form in her throat. She fought back against the fear inside her, knowing that Nigel had gotten himself out of worse scrapes than this in the past. He is invincible, larger than life. It was impossible that he could be... that something like this could happen to him. After all they'd been through, all the good and the bad, it would be criminal to have it end like this.  
Sure enough, the Armageddasaur pulled its leg back to inspect what had happened to the tiny man and snarled with a grim satisfaction to find that the cracked earth showed no signs of the body.  
It seemed to chuckle as it scratched at the ground where the Hatter once stood, erasing the mark of its paw as it crashed upon him – implacable and unstoppable – leaving a small hole in the ground.  
The beasts paw lifted up and he scraped it against one of the walls of the hut, as if in an effort to remove something that was inconveniently stuck to hit.  
It narrowed its evil eyes and locked them upon the Queen, who still had not moved.

Striding atop the Armageddasaur was the March Hare, his bony fingers and toes grasping the beasts' fur as he held on for dear life – and all the while cackling like a maniac.  
He whispered his instructions in to the creature's ear, urging it forward toward the girl.

Darkness swirled in Alice's vision as she struggled to comprehend what she just saw.  
Nigel was gone.  
The Queen spun as the Armageddasaur lunged at her, snapping at her tattered heels as she ran towards Alice.  
Hatter was gone.  
She was as limp as a rag doll as the Queen picked her up and began to carry her away from the house, screaming at the twins and Mrs. Shire.  
The Mad Hatter was gone.  
Air vibrated around her as the Armageddasaur roared in anger as the Tweedles began to attack it, Mrs. Shire helping them.  
As the beast stomped and clawed at its opponents, it slowly began to destroy the house and any last remnants of the Hatter and his Hat.  
The last thing she remembered seeing was the same dirty brown streak she saw days ago in the forest leap away from the Armageddasaur as the Tweedles finally bought it to the ground.

The Queen didn't notice how far they had run, or for how long. Even when the Armageddasaurs dying roars reached her ears, she kept running.  
Alice, who had previously been almost in a state of shock, began struggling. She twisted and turned, trying to escape the Queens grip and run back to the Hatter. Alice screamed and fought against the Queen and pounded on her back with her fists, but still she wouldn't relent. The Queen just kept running and ignoring the hot tears that streamed down her face. She was unsure if they were hers or Alice's. She didn't care.

Later, when the sun had properly risen over Wonderland and the night had retreated once more, Mrs. Shire and the Tweedles caught up with the Queen and Alice. Both were silent, Alice sitting on the ground with her head between her knees and her back shaking with silent sobs and the Queen was staring in to the forest.  
Mrs. Shire climbed down off of Tweedle Dee's shoulder and padded her way towards the Queen. "Your highness..." She paused, waiting for a response. When none was offered, she continued. "We disposed of the Armageddasaur. We found... We found no trace of Gryffin or Nigel, your highness. Only his Hat."  
Tweedle Dum stepped forward and produced the Hat from behind his back.  
Alice looked up from where she sat, her eyes red and her face streaked with tears. Shakily she pulled herself to her feet and moved towards Dee.  
The Queen twisted her head slightly so that she could see the proceedings.  
Alice reached out and took the Hat from Tweedle Dee and began to turn it over in her hands, inspecting every part of it. The worn felt, the brown leather underneath, the silk strap which held in place a faded ticket and a strange bump on the top of it, no doubt a crick from its constant use. Delicately, she placed the Hat on her head to find that it was a perfect fit.  
The Queen bowed her head slightly in contemplation. "We'd best be going then." She half-whispered. "We can't give in now, can we?"  
The Tweedles nodded and began to trudge forwards, with the other three falling in to place behind them.  
"Remember to watch yourselves up ahead!" Called back Tweedle Dum. "We'll be entering Bandersnatch country soon."  
Alice gave a quick glance of confusion to the Queen, who merely bit her lip and told her to "Stay away from the Tumtum trees."


	16. Darkness There And Nothing More

**Well hey again everyone! AAHHHHHHHH ALICE IN WONDERLAND COMES OUT TOMORROW!!!! XD The girlfriend and I are seeing it tomorrow night at Imax in Melbourne which is gonna rock something hardcore haha.  
The first thing you need to remember with this chapter is: Don't hate me =D I love the Mad Hatter as my most favouritist character in literary existence, but in the interest of a compelling story-line I will do whatever I please to him, got it? Secondly, a good story is like an episode of Transformers: There's more than meets the eye ;)  
I thank you once again for taking the time to read this and please also take the time to review/comment/criticize ^^  
Raff.**

* * *

Colin stepped warily out of the undergrowth to survey the damage that he and the Armageddasaur had managed to inflict. He was still giddy after seeing the Hatter disappear underneath the foot of the beast and not return. He stepped gingerly over the fallen piles of wood from what was once Gryffins house and rounded on the prone form of the Armageddasaur. The beast wasn't dead, but it wasn't too far from it either. It lay on its side in the dirt, gasping weakly at the air and whining. Colin grimaced at it before removing the katana from the sheath on his back. He bought it down with a sickening slicing sound, cleaving through flesh, sinew and bone to remove one of the beast's giant paws. Its roar shook the ground, and then it was silent forever. With some great deal of effort the paw was rolled over so that Colin could inspect underneath it. The Ace wanted some form of proof that Nigel had been eliminated successfully, so with the brats taking his Hat, all Colin could hope for now was that he would find something with which he could identify the Mad Hatter from.  
Confusion briefly crossed Collins face as he looked under the paw and saw that there weren't even small bits of cloth stuck on the claws. He stood for a moment trying to think of what could have happened till he remembered the Armageddasaur wiping its paw on part of the house.  
But search all he wanted, Colin could find no trace of anything to do with the Hatter in the rubble. His heart began thumping louder in his chest as the enormity of the situation dawned on him.  
He bolted to the small crater where the Hatter had been stomped on by the Armageddasaur, sweat beading on his brow as he realised that if the Hatters remains weren't there, then the was only one possibility...  
Colin flung a pile of branches off of the hole and looked down in to it to see...  
Nothing.

He stared down in horror at the empty hole. Not even a scrap of cloth was in there. He remembered the Hat being the only thing to survive, and how it floated out of the way when the Armageddasaurs foot thumped down. The Hare fumed at his own stupidity. Of course the Hatter would have found a way out of a situation from which there was no escape, he was the only one who could have done so! It was almost like he planned it, like he meant to do it. As if the Hatter was taunting Colin for the injustices that were opposed unto him. The Ace would be furious when he found out what happened. However, if Colin could pin the blame on someone else, then perhaps he would be able to weasel his way out of the punishment...  
"Honessstly, Colin" Breathed a voice with a heavy British accent from behind him, the 's' being hissed slightly. "You can't even do sssomething right when you get sssomething elssse to do it."  
Colins eyes rolled in his head and he ran a finger along the blade of his katana. "If that is the case, then it's not even my fault now, is it?" He replied without looking to the speaker behind him.  
The voice chuckled with the sound of a fish being de-scaled. "The Ace won't be pleassed either way." A twig snapped as the voices body moved closer to Colin, the sound of something swishing in the dirt trailing behind it. "How many times have you failed to kill the Hatter now? That oh ssso infamous Nigel Tickwall the Extremely Flammable? Four, five timesss now?"  
Colin spun on his heels and raised his katana up to the throat of the speaker. He was a lizard, six feet tall with one leg lightly bandaged. Bill, but no longer in his human form. "What about we count the amount of times that you have failed, hmm?"  
Bill casually brushed the sword away with one scaly hand. "You won't be able to pin this on me, Marchy." He spat out the name. "I still have a use for the Ace. You, however, are less than useful to him now." Bill snapped his claws and a Deck of Cards appeared from the trees around the remains of the cottage and surrounded the pair. "Take him away."  
The Cards silently enveloped the March Hare and disappeared with him as swiftly as they had arrived.

Bill watched him disappear into the forest with a smirk of smug satisfaction slapped across his face. He reached one clawed hand in to a brown leather pouch that hung loosely off of his belt and withdrew a vial filled with a semi-tangent, shimmering golden light. He flicked the cork out of the bottle and the faint sound of giggling laughter and wistful sighs wafted from the vial. It was Imagination made tangent. Bill downed the vial in one gulp and grimaced as the scales and tail withdrew in to him with the sound of jelly being sucked up a straw. He cracked his neck and began to walk off in the direction that he saw the Queen and Alice flee in.


	17. The Manxome Foe

**To business! Bill, it appears, is a spy for the Ace! Surely you all saw it coming?! Nigel certainly did. He pointed it out in chapters 3 and 5. You don't believe me? Go back and look =D No one ever listens to a mad man anyway...  
A burping party? I sense a non-sequitor worming its way in to my mind... I could see that becoming rather entertaining haha!  
It's late for me at the moment, so I shall bid you all adieu for this week and hopefully be able to answer any questions more fully next week.  
Until then, happy reading and a merry un-birthday to you all!  
Raff.**

**

* * *

  
**

Alice peered out from beneath the Hat to notice the trees and surroundings that she had walked in to. The trees were far apart, allowing for easy access through the forest, yet their branches spread out to cover the entire canopy, not allowing anything but the barest hints of light through.  
She could hear the Queen and the Tweedles discussing things ahead, yet she made no effort to join their conversation and they made no effort to include her.  
Quietly, Alice pulled the Hat back over her head and inspected it as the tears dried on her face. She hadn't stopped crying since they had left the house, since they'd left Nigel. Alice's hand reached up inside of the Hat to dab away at her tears. As her hand removed its self from the Hat, it brushed something under the lip and to Alice's surprise, the entirety of the Hats walls became transparent. She could see the broad brim stretching out in front of her, but aside from that her view was completely unimpeded. _So this was how he was able to walk around with it down all the time! _She realised. Until now, she'd had to keep checking from under the Hat to make sure she was still going in the right direction, or not about to trip over anything. Carefully Alice removed the Hat from her head and inspected underneath it, curious to see if there were any other tricks that the Hatter kept there.  
There seemed to be numerous small bumps and indentations along the lip, but little else to explain the Hats behaviour. Alice shrugged slightly, her sadness momentarily forgotten, placed the Hat over her head and continued walking.

Mrs. Shire padded her way up to the Queen and appeared on her shoulder. She nuzzled in to the Queens neck and whispered. "I think we need to do something about Alice. I know that Nigels..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. "I know it affected us all, but she seems to be faring far worse than what could be anticipated."  
The Queen didn't falter in her step, yet the pain in her voice was evident. "I know, Cheshire. There's nothing we can do for her though." She glanced back at Alice. The girl was walking with the Hat over her head in the same manner that Nigel used to. Somehow being able to see anything in her way and moving carefully around it. It had been obvious that Alice had been acquiring more and more of the Hatters mannerisms, even before her brief interlude of Madness.  
Before the Queen turned her head away, she noticed Alice stumble slightly on something that slithered away as she touched it. Alice turned to inspect what it was, backing herself straight in to a pair of large, snapping jaws.

The Queen screamed and threw Alice to Tweedle Dee as a pair of gigantic jaw slammed shut where she was standing just inches before. She slashed at the face of it and the beetle-like eyes of the Jabberwocky narrowed on to the Queen. Its wings beat angrily at the air and it screeched like a banshee.  
Alice lifted the Hat from her eyes and gazed up at the beast in fear. It's head was abnormally large compared to the rest of its body and was attached to a long neck that coiled and twisted in on its self. A pair of bat-like wings extended from its jet-black body and glistened as if coated in water. The creatures arms extended out from under the wings and were tucked underneath its abdomen, the claws digging at the ground in anticipation.  
The Queen looked up at the Jabberwocky with a sigh of annoyance. This would be the second time she's had to run for her life from some sort of terrible beasty and she was rather sick of it. "Run." She breathed.

The group ran as fast as they could, dodging branches and jumping logs in an effort to get as much distance between them and the Jabberwocky as possible. It was nearly impossible thanks to the layout of the trees. It was almost as if the entire forest was against them.  
That was when Alice strayed too close to a Tumtum tree.  
The branches of the tree lashed out at Alice, tripping her and sending her sprawling to the dirt, the triumphant scream of the Jabberwocky alerting the Queen to her predicament.  
Alice screamed and kicked at the Jabberwocky as it drew nearer, her arms scrabbling for purchase amongst the loose soil.

Just as the Jabberwocky extended its colossal neck and roared in triumph over its prey, it flinched when a sound akin to a thousand teapots boiling erupted through the forest. Steam burst out from underneath the Hat and shot it off Alice's head with such force that it became level with the head of the Jabberwocky, before descending. It stopped a few feet above Alice's head, where it hovered on a cloud of sweet smelling steam. The Hat spun around fiercely, before coming to a rest when a pair of feet fell out of it, followed by two legs, a body, arms and a head that the Hat then landed on.  
The Hat Body launched its self at the Jabberwocky, spinning around and clobbering it with its fists and feet while emitting a high-pitched shrieking noise, akin to a kettle boiling. When it landed on the creatures head, the two hands pulled pistols from the pockets of the pants and fired directly in to the Jabberwockies head.  
The brim of the Hat tilted up slightly to reveal the Hatter grinning triumphantly from beneath it.

The Jabberwocky snarled as the Hatter danced on top of its head, its eyes partially blinded by his attack. Its tail slashed back and forth like a whip and sent trees crashing to the ground and allowing shafts of light in to the gloomy interior of the forest. A screech like gears grinding together blew out of the Jabberwockies mouth when it stumbled back and its haunches where burned by a beam of golden sunlight.  
Hatter cackled and dug his feet harder in to the Jabberwockies head and grinned like the madman he was as he aimed his guns upwards and began blowing huge chunks out of the canopy and allowing light to rain through and land upon the Jabberwocky.  
Soon it was encased in a golden beam of light as large as it was. The shining skin of the Jabberwocky cracked and crumbled as it grew weaker, before it crumbled in to dust.  
The Hatter shook himself of the grey soot and waltzed merrily through the sunlight to the stunned group. "Firstly: I told you so. Secondly: What did I miss? Second secondly: Alice, you look pale. You need more sun. Third secondly: Queen Adelaide my dear, your mouth is too wide. Why are you all looking at me like that?"  
The Queen, Alice, the Tweedles and Mrs. Shire had their gazes transfixed on the Hatter. They all stood there for several semi-awkward moments, before Alice ran to Nigel and kissed him.


	18. And We All Fall Down Together

**You all thought it was gone, didn't you? I'M SO SORRY IT'S BEEN SO LONG! I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON AAAHHH! But here it is =) Chapter 18 =D Will try to keep writing it from now on, but see how I go with work etc XD Please review if you find a problem with it, or love it ^_^  
**

**Raff**

The Ace paced nervously around his throne room. He had forbidden anyone from entering until the Hare had returned with news about this Alice child and her companions. Whether it be good or bad, he wanted to be the first to hear the news.

And the first to punish if it was not as he planned.

Even with the Armageddasaur as his trump card against the Hatter, the Ace was all to aware of how expertly that man could escape death time and time again. All it would take was one little mistake in his perfect plan to ruin everything he had worked for. Years of scheming and planning, murder and mayhem, anarchy and usurping, gone if that little man made his way here and saw him...

The throne room doors heaved open heavily, groaning under their own weight. Without turning, the Ace stood as still as a statue, daring his body to bely his true feelings.

He listened as heavy foot steps dragged something across the floor, and flung it in a heap at his feet.

He watched as the dust curled around his body and settled back on the floor in front of him.

The foot steps left the room as quietly as they could, and it wasn't until the doors at groaned shut again, that the Ace dared look at what was bought to him.

Did he dare to believe it the body of the Hatter? Perhaps even Alice?

His massive bulk shifted easily around, turning to view the limp body before him.

"Colin!" He hissed, his tone as cold as ice and as menacing as a blizzard.

The boy before him groaned and rose to one knee, his face a mass of bruises. "The concierge here are a little rough, m'lord. I suggest far less than a 10% tip for them at the end of my stay here."  
His head snapped backwards as the toe of the Aces boot impacted on his chin, splitting his lip and sending small drops of blood spraying upwards.  
"If you are here looking like this, then I can expect that Alice is faring far worse, is she not?"  
Colin cracked his neck and wiped the blood away from his mouth. "Last I saw of her she was departing rather hurriedly from the scene of the Hatters..." Should he call him dead? Was he truly? "Apparent and altogether bloody demise."  
The Ace grinned beneath his midnight black helmet. "You ordered my main after her immediately then, did you not? To maim, kill, burn and destroy until nothing was left?"  
Colin stood weakly, attempting to put as little weight as possible on his right leg. "You _men _carried me back here as soon as the Hatter was smooshed, beat me rather gratuitously and threw me to you. I never had time to issue orders, the lizard-man however took to it as a duck to water."

A thick, heavy glove shot out and grabbed Colin by the collar of his shirt. "Get back into the forest." Growled the Ace. "Find them, and stop them from reaching the castle by any means possible. Do that, and the lizard will be yours to do as you wish with.

Colin grinned beneath blood-stained lips. "Your wish is my command."

The Hatter stumbled backwards as Alice crashed in to him, her lips pressed tightly against his. They both fell to the forest floor with a crunch.

It was long seconds before Alice finally bought it upon herself to release the man and stand up, somewhat sheepishly. "I'm... I'm sorry Nigel. It's just we thought you were..."  
Nigel snatched his hat up from where it fell on the floor and shook pieces of broken china out of it. "You jolly well should be! First you steal my hat, then you go and nearly trod all over a Jabberwocky, and then you assault me and break my fine china! I have half a mind to leave you all here to trip over yourselves!"  
He slammed the hat down on his head and marched off towards the castle in the distance, now visible through the broken tree-tops.

Alice raised a hand to speak after him, but was silenced by the Queen. "No good can come from falling for him, deary. Even if you both fell down together, his heart's as twisted as his mind."  
Tears welled in Alice's eyes as she watched the Hatter continue on ahead, still yelling at himself and waving his arms in the air.  
"Come on, love. Let's keep going whilst we still have ourselves." The Queen gave her a gentle push and walked after her, the Tweedles leapfrogging after them.

Watching them as silently as the moon, was Bill. The Imagination having turned is reptilian form back to that of a regular person. All he had to do now was follow them, and wait for the right moment for him to reveal himself.

As he tip toed backwards, watching the party depart before him, Bill grinned at how easy it was to lure the entire group into a trap.

Before he had taken more than a few steps, Bill fell into a trap.

The tripwire activated, and a net closed around him, hurling him at least three meters off the ground and leaving him in the most uncomfortable position he could think of.

A brown blur swished up to him, flicked him on the nose, and zoomed away again with a short cackled.

Bill strained at the ropes furiously, knowing exactly who had laid it for him.  
He locked his eyes on a streak of fading brown, leading towards the castle. "Colin..."


End file.
